The girls on the streets all look sad

in this gold encrusted little town

Why is that?

Isn't this the town of dreams?

Yeah... But it comes with a price

It's a town that never does anything and yet takes all the credit

A place that promises so much,

But never has a thing to say,

Or a care in the world

There is no memory here

No dream for itself but the dreams of others

And all over the world

you talk about a place you've only seen in re-runs

Immortalized for it's vice, and deified for it's carnage

 

(There's money in the air there)

(All you have to do is reach up and grab it)

 

In basements, garages, parking lots, empty lots,

schoolyards, town cars, backrooms and more

Diamonds are fashioned from expectations

and fortified on a steady diet,

of simple lives and red carpets

The ejaculating zeitgeist in nightvision

Culture is a punchline and emotion is blood in the water

The sharks here play games you can't fathom

But you flock here anyway

On college money and credit cards

Spend a week bullshitting yourself that it was all true

All of it

Just to watch in horror as it all falls to pieces

under the gravity of reality

The starry eyes fade as it dawns on you

Nothing is guaranteed

 

You are a part of the great divide

The chosen or the frozen

Now you’re miles away without a net

Your college money's a collage of debt

and your credit cards are all snapped in fucking half

Time to wander a landscape bereft of mercy

This is now the backlot of your failed movie

A waking dream re-written without your permission

The real lustre, the soft focus, the...

Soap opera vision is just the hindsight

of a world who's been lied to

Of sad surfs and untouchable lords

You took a chance didn't you?

But chance didn't have a par for you this time around,

maybe next life

And you can't even walk home

 

The girls on the streets all look sad

in this cardboard cut-out little town

(huh) No wonder

That's the only thing here that's real

 

The gold is for fools

And paradise is lost

but the hungry have never bothered with the cost

Day by day they fall away like rose pedals

Like ink that won't dry or fade

It just runs wild down cracks and crevices, grooves and folds

so I hope someone saves you before you get cold

I really do

 

Because the girls are all sad in this little black book

If you don't believe me, take a closer look

If you can

Note: This song is from a Stone Sour album. 

 

---

"Apparitions," poem by Charles Bukowski, ready by Lee Bob Black  

I thought I saw the one with long

brown hair standing by the coffee stand.

she had on dark shades.

I ducked and got the escalator

and went down to the first

floor and mingled with the

crowd.

 

a few days later

I thought I saw the redhead

it looked like her ass from behind

and when her head turned I'm

almost sure it was her

face.

 

I quickly changed floors,

went all the way over to the

clubhouse.

 

it might all be my imagination

that I saw 2 of the women

that I once thought I couldn't

live

without.

 

but

at least

I haven't run into

the other

5.

Note: this poem is from Charles Bukowski’s book, The Flash of Lightning Behind The Mountain.

---

“he showed me his back,” poem by Charles Bukowski, read by Lee Bob Black

I had worked there 14 years, mostly

on the night shift, eleven-and-one-half

hours a night.

 

one day out at the track this fellow

walked up to me. 

hey man, he said to me, how are you?

hello, I answered.

I didnt remember him,

there had been 3 or 4 thousand of us working

together in that building.

 

I wondered what happened to you,

he went on, did you retire?

no, I quit, I told him. 

you quit? then whatd you

do? 

I wrote some books.

I got lucky. 

 

without a further word he turned

and walked off

 

he thought it was bullshit. 

 

well, maybe it was,

but at least it was my bullshit, not

his.

Note: this poem is from Charles Bukowski’s book, The Flash of Lightning Behind The Mountain.

 

---

“Father Death Blues," poem by Allen Ginsberg, read by Lee Bob Black 

Hey Father Death, I'm flying home 

Hey poor man, you're all alone

Hey old daddy, I know where I'm going

 

Father Death, Don't cry any more

Mama's there, underneath the floor

Brother Death, please mind the store

 

Old Aunty Death Don't hide your bones

Old Uncle Death I hear your groans

O Sister Death how sweet your moans

 

O Children Deaths go breathe your breaths

Sobbing breasts'll ease your Deaths

Pain is gone, tears take the rest

 

Genius Death your art is done

Lover Death your body's gone

Father Death I'm coming home

 

Guru Death your words are true

Teacher Death I do thank you

For inspiring me to sing this Blues

 

Buddha Death, I wake with you

Dharma Death, your mind is new

Sangha Death, we'll work it through

 

Suffering is what was born

Ignorance made me forlorn

Tearful truths I cannot scorn

 

Father Breath once more farewell

Birth you gave was no thing ill

My heart is still, as time will tell.

 

---

“As Is,” lyrics by Ani DiFranco, read by Lee Bob Black  

you can't hide

behind social graces

so don't try

to be all touchy feely

cuz you lie

in my face of all places

but i've got no

problem with that really

 

what bugs me

is that you believe what you're saying

what bothers me

is that you don't know how you feel

what scares me

is that while you're telling me stories

you actually

believe that they are real

 

and i've got

no illusions about you

and guess what?

i never did

and when i said

when i said i'll take it

i meant,

i meant as is

 

just give up

and admit you're an asshole

you would be

in some good company

i think you'd find

that you friends would forgive you

or maybe i

am just speaking for me

 

cuz when i look around

i think this, this is good enough

and i try to laugh

at whatever life brings

cuz when i look down

i just miss all the good stuff

when i look up

i just trip over things

 

and i've got

no illusions about you...

 

you can't hide

behind social graces

cuz i don't buy it

like everyone else

and you can lie

in my face of all places

just don't

lie to yourself

 

cuz i've got

no illusions about you

and guess what?

i never did

and when i say

when i say i'll take it

i mean,

i mean as is...

 

...as is...

Note: this song is from Little Plastic Castle.