Dry Dreams

By jim carroll and steve linsley

You're passing,
I hear your shadow through the door
It's outlined on my shade
Like a map of some foreign shore
If i could keep that shadow,
I could live forever in these

Rooms, the rooms inside my dreams . . .
And dreams have kept me in these rooms

I've never seen her face
But i've memorized each sound . . .
The way the wind m eets grace
When its shadows pull her gown

But i could never hear the whispers,
Voices cannot reach my room

I live inside my dreams, and dreams
Have locked me in these rooms

I have no sense of time,
Or even night and day. i left my body
Somewhere, somehow it
Just got in the way

I guess i always knew
These rooms would all lead back to you

They hit you with their papers when you're living
On loan. they're the ones who say nothing when you
Answer the phone. you see them in the alleys when
You're passing late at night, but you tell your friend
To check it and there's no one in sight.
I never wanted it
I never asked for it
I surely didn't sleep with them
If the phone rings, don't answer it

Death is their only way to survive
The neck of anubis strangled by wire

They hold their eyes in their fist
One is fire . . . one is ice
They roll them across the bed like some loaded dice

7 come 11 but i could not stay
I kissed her eyes on the sheets
I took a bus to yesterday

Their flesh is a cemetery, centuries old . . .
You are free as a lap dog
Just do what you're told

They wear spandex and gloves
And feed on fetus flesh
They're the fashion rage
Of the empirical age

But i never wanted them
Never asked for them
Didn't sleep with them
Please don't answer it

Death is their only way to get high
The neck of anubis strangled by wire

They say, "i'll live for your sins
If you will die for mine . . ."

I'll summon the darkness
If you buy the wine

They're all underage
Yet they're a thousand years old

They make you feel so clever while you're being sold

The bell rings . . .
It's a decade past my decadence
My beast wears rings and he's waiting
In the shadows of my hesitations, my silent
Hesitations . . . each image is so clear;
It seems i have no hands
The gestures of the air confuse all my demands

And the beast hears the bell; he comes
Out of the shadows. he rips apart the shadows . . .
And he says:

"this is work and not play"
And he says:
"there's always more than one way . . .
This is work not play"

Refrain:
I see the ghosts of my childhood . . .
Dressed in blue, they trail me in the night
They drive these cars with real upholstery
They trail me until . . . here comes the night

She was standing, standing on the balcony
Her black, black eyes folded over her eyelids
Like sheets on motel beds . . .
She must be eatin' reds
This place is filled with mirrors
It echoes what she said
And she said:


"i need a judgement day"and she said:
"i know there's more than one way,
But i want my judgement day . . ."

Repeat refrain

To sleep without dreams
So distant from the mirror
Imitating clarity, disguising
All the terror . . . i heard a thousand bells
From a thousand old cathedrals
They rang . . . i haven't heard them since
A decade past my decadence
The beast hears the bell

I'm cursed to be a singer
A singer of the flames
A thinker of a fire
And a son without a name

By jim carroll and wayne woods

Evangeline
My first lady,
She wears satin gloves
Since her hands got dirty
She travels here
She travels there . . .
She's on the "a" list
Everywhere

I can't take it anymore
If she calls back,
Tell her i went uptown to the downtown store

Evangeline
With her lips like curtains,
But you best know
And it's for certain

With all her monies
You and i got none
She's got a satin pillow
Covering her pearly gun

I can't take it anymore
If she calls back,
Tell her i went down to the liquor store

Refrain
She's a diver
And the ladder's getting taller
She's a diver
And the pool is getting smaller
If she takes one more step higher
Then the water will turn to fire

All our monies was all that held her
She should learn to respect her elders

Her boys grab your hands
Her boys lift your feet

Lord, my whole building is out in the street

I can't take it anymore
If she calls back,
Tell her i went uptown to the downtown store

(repeat refrain)

I was underneath the staircase
I was talking with my angel
He said that beauty is only terror
You know, when terror is just beginning
I thought i heard some footsteps
Lorraine, she was coming
But she's been feelin' real sick lately
She been kickin' down her habit

So i went around to see her
I had the angel in my pocket
She had jewels between her fingers
And there was blood across lou's carpet

But i know that she's feelin' better . . .
I saw her walking to the market

She went down
The sharp black hole
She wants to die just to save her soul . . .

But she wants to live
She wants to start her band
She swears the stage is god's left hand

So i'm sitting in the cellar
Beneath my dark apartment
I had the angel on my shoulder
You know, his wings were kinda shattered

He plays with broken mirrors
And he said that he just saw sally
And that sally was with lorraine
And they were playing in the alley

So i went around to see them
Ahhh . . . they were doing it together

And there was a little blood across the concrete . . .
I know they were feeling better . . .

They got straight
They understand
They wanted to die but now they got plans
They want to live; they want to start their band
They swear the stage is god's left hand

I'm waiting in the lobby
The angel dropped the mirror
But he still insists that beauty . . .
That beauty is just one part of terror

There's a painting on the ceiling
Of a dog . . . he had eyes like rubies,
And then the angel just remembered
That lorraine was at the movies

I found her in the back aisle
There was blood across the next seat
When she reached out to touch me
I thought that that that was so sweet

So i stuck her with my finger
It was like a knife through leather
She had a song along her eyelid


I know she was feeling better

She got straight
She understand
She wanted to die but now she got plans

She want to live
She want to start her band
She swear the stage is god's left hand . . .

She moves through the black door
She turns toward the desperate light
With her breath like iodine
With her filigree design
She summons the fire from her hips
Flamingo blood melts down her lips

But the light would not share her,
From behind the bending mirror, pulling her within,
Like a jealous twin. there was something in her eye
Like a flawed alibi . . . i was just about to ask
When she rips apart her mask

Refrain
But me and my girl
Chase the dragon's tail
We double lock the room
We innoculate the moon

And the light glows from below
Tonight, tonight
She hears the soft drone,
Like a pearly blade laid in silicone . . .

And the reservoir of sleep
Slides through the morning tube
Like a letter written in a dream
That is answered much too soon

And she lays across the sofa like a gold stick pin
Mascara draining down her specious grin, every notion's
Loaded motion laced in bombay gin . . . and the serpent's
Eyes are bursting as she bites into the skin

(repeat refrain)

She leaves a trail of broken things:
Knives . . . lives . . . and wedding rings
And the candle drips its light
Across the fine silk floor

Someone screams for less
Someone screams for more . . .

But the light would not share her
From behind the bending mirror
Pulling her within
Like a jealous twin
There was something in her eye
Like a flawed alibi
I was just about to ask, i swear,
She ripped apart the mask

But me
And my girl
We chase the dragon's tail

We double lock the room
We innoculate the moon

And the light
Glows
From down below . . . tonight . . . tonight