Shall We Gather at the River?

You don't see me shed my cloak?
Don't hitch a ride, kick back or smoke?
Always vote, always joke?
When would you have met me?
Let the Word to deaf man speak?
In the dark blue eyes are weak
The Jordan runs through Babylon
I run through the eyes of John
here and now both dead and gone
'bout the time I met you
©2008 g.o.

In the mean time

Caught they do beg for his head on a platter
Keep his mouth shut to what it amounts
Tell 'em the truth that their coal miners matter
You're stripping their future from all present accounts

Wind whips a sack through the tombs in the grave yard
Flailing impaled hung high on an orange tree
Spiraling their dust 'cross the street near a backhoe
Sack of white plastic a lost bumble bee

Rent month-to-month since th' year before last
on a two room flat off the service road alley
A hangman droppin' by said the Landlords just caught him to evict,
loose at their hangar in the Snake River valley

By the box train caught, stranded downtown
Back at the main mine men breakin' a spell
East of Lost Springs blew yellow and brown
smoke from the main line, Long Beach, and Hell
into the crack of the Liberty Bell..

But we're left with a light right tolling good news
The Baptist as real as Willie McTell
caught in the mean time a good life to lose,
caught in the mean time with lonesome day blues

Bridge 1
Plan to be happy
Put money away
Plan to be cruising however
We choose!
Plan to be happy
Release every slave
Survive in the mean time into the blues

Momma so cheerful ain't too upset
Screen door slams on the impact of debt
Her gaskets are drippin' by th' flickering gas lights
Hot water's shut off and the power just might,
but she ain't into cracks but a liberty bell..
Into the at-hand realm of good news,
good for the Baptist in Willie McTell
caught in the mean time singin' the blues

Bridge 2
Plan to be happy
Put money away
Plan to be prayin' payin' our dues
Gotta be upbeat hangin' with slaves
'live in the mean time into the blues

Lincoln black Lincoln rat cool cat shades
Sunlight shifts such subtle colors of skunk
Not quite a two-tone with rust colored paints
No flat spare in a trunk load of junk..

but back to the crack in the Liberty Bell
left with the right hand tolling good news
Lend me your ears to hear Willie McTell
caught in the mean time singin' the blues
©2008-09 g.o.