Lyrics – People Really Live This Way CD

All lyrics copyright Scott Malyszka

CARRIE AND I

Carrie and I sitting on a bench
In the light, in the patriarchal church
Saint Michael’s day in autumn
Watch the angels playing hide and search
Carrie leans warm against me
Her brown hair is long and tossed
Old Armenian woman hisses at her
Don’t sit like that with your legs crossed

Walking beside the great stone wall
Construction workers smoking on their break
They’re replacing the gold atop that dome
The king will give as much as God will take
Carrie and I just puzzle it out
Her arm wraps around my waist
Battles for centuries built all this
This mosque, this wall, this church, this fate

Smell of prayers across the room
Faces freeze with grace and gloom
Heart-born stain, rattling chain
Nothing given, nothing gained

Sitting on the grass she removes her shoes
Her legs are so pretty and strong
I stroke her knee while we whisper and kiss
In the park the November sky grows dark
It’s good for friends like us to kiss
She speaks this creed and I just nod
It’s all ours, we didn’t steal a thing
Soul kisses, the language of God

Smell of leaves, undressing trees
Prayers lost upon the breeze
Soul kisses unrestrained
Nothing given, nothing gained

ALREADY WICKED

She’s already wicked, she doesn’t need me
To hand down the powers of the flowers and the bees
The flowers are blooming, the bees are buzzing
Spreading their love wherever they please

They envy us and the love we own

Turkeys are talking, squawking and squeaking
Don’t want to leave a poor soul alone
They try to scratch anything that itches
Scrape you clean right down to the bone

Fingers pointing, pushing your buttons
Duck down low, don’t bump your head
They tell me to go back where I came from
But where I came from, they wish I was dead

Bishops blunder while the preachers plunder
Young men laughing at the old men’s groans
Mamas gossip while their daughters are daunting
They all envy us and the love we own

I got me a woman who’s all kinds of wily
She breaks every rule before it’s been wrote
Don’t fit at all except with a misfit like me
I guess they’ll just hang us both
Oh yes, I guess they’ll just hang us both

PEOPLE REALLY LIVE THIS WAY

Red-headed woman mowing the lawn
She got cut-off jeans and flip-flops on
I’m working in the kitchen making tea with lemon
Looking out the window, the scene is tremendous

Sunshine, motorcycle, halter top, pony tail
Driving on a county road, hiking on a secret trail
Wading in a creek, toss a rock, make a splash
Sweat from her shoulder running down her bare back

Good to know some people really live this way

Grinning on the couch like a kid at Christmas
No thank you, Mr. hershey, we got enough kisses
Beer in a bottle, wine in a glass
I got nothing else to say, she’s a beautiful catch

Rock and roll record spin on a dime
She’s twanging my guitar, keeping perfect time
Bucking blue numbers, singing every tune
Shang-a-lang-a ding dong be-bop-a-loo

Stop at the market, buy some figs
Adam and Eve never had it this big
Talk to the farmers, grab some apples
Head on home, she knows what she’s after

Staring at the ceiling, eyes falling shut
Come on, lazy man, she says, time to get up
I never saw a tan line I liked so much
Some people ought to know some people are in love

Like a kid at Christmas playing with toys
I’m listening to life, I’m listening to her voice
Clean up the dishes, take time to make the bed
This time tomorrow, we do it all again

Good to know some people really live this way

BACKWARDS TOWN

I won’t miss you much, backwards town
You’ve been a drag on me, you’ve been wearing me down
I won’t care for you when I’m gone
You’ve been wrong, wrong, wrong

I almost got married twice
Once was like fire, the other like ice
I’m sick and tired of your stupid advice
You stupid old town

So long, you stupid old town
Yeah, yeah, I’m putting you down, down, down

There’s a girl who lives next door
She’s thinking about me, I don’t know what for
I’m moving away, she’s gonna stay right here now

I’m heading north to Syracuse
Think I’ve had enough Pennsylvania abuse
New York sure looks good to me right now, now

Sha la la la

JENNY

Jenny was a college student
Didn’t know what she was doing
When she came to help out at the food bank downtown
I was just a guitar loser
Part-time job, full-time ruin
I was working at the warehouse at the food bank downtown

When we met she touched her glasses
I’m volunteering for one of my classes
I guess you’ll help me out and show me around
Afternoons packing boxes
Sorting cans, moving palettes
We were working hard till our hands got tired

A winter’s day, the snow kept falling
I was working all alone when she walked in
She made some joke about the roads getting bad
Hey, I heard you were some kind of musician
Yeah, I’m writing songs, well at least I’m trying
Maybe you could sing a song for me?

We sat on some flattened boxes
I sang my song, she said she liked it
Then she read a poem she brought for me
It was dark, our hands were cold
We were kissing, we were getting bold
She took off her glasses in the dark

I remember every time it snows

Weeks passed, she graduated
She had a future, I was back-dated
Like a joke, it makes you smile and then its gone
Next summer I got a letter
From some place down in South America
She was working for the Peace Corps, she said she was doing fine
She said, you can count me as your friend
But I doubt you’ll see my face again
Those were the best damn kisses I ever had

Jenny was a college student
I was just a full-time ruin
I remember every time it snows

DON’T TALK TO ME ABOUT TOMORROW

When I was young I was apprehensive
I went with a gal that was intensive
I thought our love would never end
Started talking about relationship
She said, don’t you give me none of your lip
I walked away just being friends.

Don’t talk to me about tomorrow, baby
Tomorrow’s another day away
Just let tomorrow take care of itself
I’m gonna take care of today

There was another gal I knew
She really knocked me right out of my shoes
I started thinking about her a lot
But she’s moving out of town this year
She don’t want to start up nothing back here
I’m stuck in that same old spot

Now I was talking to a friend of mine
Who’s been saving every penny and every dime
He says he doesn’t have a cent to spare
But he might die the day after next
And what’s really got my mind perplexed is
How’s he gonna spend his money up there?

Now I don’t worry and I don’t fret
About any of the stuff that ain’t happened yet
Anxiety has never been good to me
I ain’t saying don’t worry, I ain’t saying be happy
But if you’re feeling a little bit crappy
Just be thankful it’s not as bad as it could be

WALKING SHOES

Put on your walking shoes, let’s see what’s going on
Put your hand in mine, then we know that we won’t go wrong
Put on your winter coat, ’cause the snow is on the ground
Put on your walking shoes, let’s walk, let’s walk, let’s walk all over town

Hide my worries in a cloud
Watch them blow away
See the cars go sliding by
They got to hurry on their way
Come now, sit with me
Let the clear December sky
Show us exactly how we feel

PICKUP

Riding in the back of a pickup
Moving north through Delaware
Pennsylvania, it’s my home you see
You know I’m glad I’m heading there
Roads are nice and smooth most any place
Roads will take you anywhere you need
Pennsylvania got a lot of rough ones
But a rough road is where I got to be

Oh, sometimes it ain’t easy
Oh, sometimes it ain’t nice
Wandering hearts can tell a lot of stories
But a steadfast one knows where its home is at

I’ve had the chance to make it with the big shots
Man that sure would be an easy way to go
I could do all kinds of double talking
I could use every trick I know
Jesus didn’t have a place to lay his head
His roots ran far too deep for that
The easy way was unfamiliar
He just slept wherever he was at

Oh, sometimes it ain’t pretty
Oh, sometimes it ain’t fair
Wandering hearts can tell a lot of stories
But a steadfast one knows where its home is at

JOHNNY RAMONE

When I was young my father was scared of me
What I might be, what I might not be
He had doubts about my chemistry
Was my soul unclear? Would I turn out queer?

He put a mitt upon my slender hand
Then he threw the ball, I couldn’t catch at all
His face froze hard as I walked across the yard
Any real son would try, any real son would try

I didn’t know I could have a son like him
He looks more like Tiny Tim than Johnny Ramone
I just wanted a boy to call my own
Now I just can’t let him go wandering alone

When I was young I fell for everything
The bishop’s shiny ring, the bells and the songs
The priests spoke to God before eternity
Any child’s mind could see the magic, the trinity

But God had doubts about my chemistry
What I might be, what I might not be