Catholic Boy

It must be strange to just fall from the stage
And snap a bone that is so close to the brain
And be attended to by so many down below
I saw a doctor tie you up from so far above
And you start singing just like light through a black floor
You start sliding like burned skin to a side door

Refrain:
But crow, when you throw yourself under
Singin's hard when you can't loose control
They don't know, to them in the dark you don't whisper nothin'
And they're all gonna try and rip the wind from your soul

It must have been hard to be a cashier in a bookstore
And to be surrounded by the history of your true loves
And you'd get naked between the deep shelves in the backroom
And have your brain get tan by sharp fluorescent light tubes
And you start spinning like the pillars in the temple
You'd start screaming just like sister aimee semple

But crow, when you throw yourself under
The streets are hard when you cannot lose control
They don't know, to them the dark don't whisper nothin'
And they're all gonna try and rip the wind from your soul
Crow

It was so sweet when you brought donuts to the junkies
Hey, you'd give us something we'd go slip into our coffee
And we'd start reading lines from poems that didn't matter
You covered me with blankets in the chelsea hotel lobby
And i'd start reachin' for the scar along your belly
They'd start takin' us 'cause winning is their hobby

Repeat refrain

I was born in a pool, they made my mother stand
And i spat on that surgeon and his trembling hand
When i felt the light i was worse than bored
I stole the doctor's scalpel and i slit the cord

Refrain:
I was a catholic boy,
Redeemed through pain,
Not through joy

I was two months early they put me under glass
I screamed and cursed their children when the nurses passed
Was convicted of theft when i slipped from the womb
They led me straight from my mother to a cell in the tombs

Repeat refrain

They starved me for weeks, they thought they'd teach me fear
I fed on cellmates' dreams, it gave me fine ideas
When they cut me loose, the time had served me well
I made allies in heaven, i made comrades in hell

I was a catholic child
The blood ran red
The blood ran wild

I make angels dance and drop to their knees
When i enter a church the feet of statues bleed
I understand the fate of all my enemies
Just like christ in the garden of gethsemane

Repeat refrain

I watched the sweetest psalm stolen by the choir
I dreamed of martyrs' bones hanging from a wire
I make a contribution, i get absolution
I make a resolution to purify my soul

Repeat refrain

They can't touch me now
I got every sacrament behind me:
I got baptism,
I got communion,
I got penance,
I got extreme unction
I've got confirmation
'cause i'm a catholic child
The blood ran red
The blood ran wild!

Now i'm a catholic man
I put my tongue to the rail whenever i can.

Teddy sniffing glue he was 12 years old
Fell from the roof on east two-nine
Cathy was 11 when she pulled the plug
On 26 reds and a bottle of wine
Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old
He looked like 65 when he died
He was a friend of mine

Refrain:
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

G-berg and georgie let their gimmicks go rotten
So they died of hepatitis in upper manhattan
Sly in vietnam took a bullet in the head
Bobby od'd on drano on the night that he was wed
They were two more friends of mine
Two more friends that died / i miss 'em--they died

Repeat refrain

Mary took a dry dive from a hotel room
Bobby hung himself from a cell in the tombs
Judy jumped in front of a subway train
Eddie got slit in the jugular vein
And eddie, i miss you more than all the others,
And i salute you brother/ this song is for you my brother

Repeat refrain

Herbie pushed tony from the boys' club roof
Tony thought that his rage was just some goof
But herbie sure gave tony some bitchen proof
"hey," herbie said, "tony, can you fly?"
But tony couldn't fly . . . tony died

Repeat refrain:

Brian got busted on a narco rap
He beat the rap by rattin' on some bikers
He said, hey, i know it's dangerous,
But it sure beats riker's
But the next day he got offed
By the very same bikers

Repeat refrain; repeat song to eddie

It's when billy's whores are re to seeorkin'
They're workin' with the skeleton crew
It's when the sky over jersey
That sky starts to drain from view
It's when my woman pawns her voice so
So she can make her old excuses sound new

But i just want one clue

Refrain:
'cause when the city drops into the night
Before the darkness there's one moment of light
When everything seems clear
The other side, it seems so near
What seemed wrong?
I think it's gonna be just about right
Before the city drops, the city drops
Into the night

It's when the door to the river
That door is like 26 miles
It's when ambitious little girls start
They start to dream about a change in style
It's when the slick boys got their fingers
They got their fingers in the telephone dial

But i think i'll just wait a while

Repeat refrain

It's when the sneak thieves are checkin'
They're checkin the alleys for unlocked doors
And billy's sister's gettin' frantic 'cause
'cause billy's sister's little brother can't score
It's when the woman from the dream is . . .
Oh my god! that's the woman on the floor

Each promise was just one promise more

Repeat refrain

It's when teddy's ghost is on the roof
Beatin' his drum
And teddy's best friend is two blocks east
And he's makin' teddy's ex-girlfriend come
You know, they mistook teddy's blind trust . . .
Just to prove that teddy was dumb . . .
But listen, you know, i think they are both just scum

Repeat refrain

It's when the body at the bottom,
That body is my own reflection
But it ain't hip to sink that low
Unless you're gonna make a resurrection
They're always gonna come to your door
They're gonna say, "it's just a routine inspection"
But what you get when you open your door
What you get is just another injection
And there's always gonna be one more
With just a little bit less until the next one
They wait in shadows and steal the light from your eyes
To them vision's just some costly infection
But listen, you should come with me
I'm the fire, i'm the fire's reflection
I'm just a constant warning to take the other direction

Mister, i am your connection

Repeat refrain

It's too late
To fall in love with sharon tate
But it's too soon
To ask me for the words i want carved on my tomb

I think it's time that you all start
To think about gettin' by
But i have that need to go out and find somebody to love

It's too late
There's no one left that i even wanna imitate
You see, you just don't know
I'm here to give you my heart
And you want some fashion show

But it ain't no contribution
To rely on an institution
To validate your chosen art
And to sanction your boredom
And let you play out your part

It's too late
You know when they got nothin' to give
They only part their legs for what's negative
They're so decadent . . .
Until their daddy's money from home's all spent

So i think it's time, because it's too easy
To rely on worshipping devils and strangers in bed,
Though they do get good drugs, and they do give good head

It's too late
You shoulda realized i was worth the wait
Ah, but you didn't hesitate
When he took you off, you let him seal our fate

So i think it's time
That you all start
To think about gettin' by
Without that need to go out and find
Somebody to love