I Feel Better in Miami

I feel better when you look at me
I feel my heart in Miami
with my hands on your ears
my gusty nose a-blowing
a freebie falls on flat feet
when blue Cuba is revolting
I feel better in Miami
you feel better when you're there

You try better in revival
with your every inch committed
you know just where you're going
when you go in all directions
when Bill spills beers with bouncers
and Blue Cuba is revolting
you fly straighter when revival
adds reason to your floating

I look better tanned with Barbara
black and sweet with Maureen
a slave in palace blanca
all the way home...all the way home
for Barbara feels her bounty
way down home in Gumption
and Maureen would love money
way down upon the Swanee River

1971
from Favorites
revised Jan 6, 2018
Originally titled "Why Violence Ain't So Bad"

It Doesn't Work - When I Was Younger...

It Doesn't Work

I fear it doesn't work
It doesn't seem to work when you try to push it in
I know she'll never melt,
She doesn't melt but looks at the movies
Oh how I stayed hard 
until we fell asleep
you suck too hard
you grab the cup's side 
and wonder why it doesn't work

When I Was Younger I Wrote 
and Thought of Things Like This 

What would you do if you fell out on weekends
and didn't wake up until late Monday morning
when Mommy came knocking and said "Get up freak"
but you couldn't get into the day; life so boring

Bridge:
There was a time in my life this was true
When my life was spent sleeping
and my world spun around you
Alcohol and gin rummy
Seconal and Quaalu-des
Alcohol and gin rummy
Seconal and  Quaalu-des

What would you do if you met her on Fridays
straight to your bedroom and under the blanket
fucked her forever or, yes, Monday morning
when dreams of next weekend all week kept you horny

1971
excerpts from Favorites 

Frozen Glass

Do the things you do make you want 
to begin at the beginning again?
When the fog rose one dark night
in fright you thought you were dead

No man likes a slut for long
In ten years you will know you were wrong
When you do and it makes you cry
Don't call me up; just ask yourself why

Like a cork on water I flowed on an ocean of semen
I carry the load waiting for my next voyage.
Like frozen glass, it shatters on you
Glass that won't melt what I've been through; you can't.

My window eyes see your life full of bullshit...get back
I see you looking at me in the shadow of a TV tube
I listened as Kantner told me how to let go
I told you how to go about letting go

Forty-five mind revolutions per minute
All the people changing forward
You stay the same; backward, sluttish
You did me more than I needed you

Make believe you're sleeping
To hear what I'm saying about you
You are better for getting out of
What everyone else was getting into

I am poor at hand...rich in wisdom
You had better stop thinking
Listen to the silence
Start a new trend of thought

Even though you're gifted with life's necessities 
It doesn't mean you own a monopoly on yourself
If you have trouble coming through
Go down deep, up and in

Do the things that you did make you want
to begin at beginning again?
When your bottom fell through
did you try to climb back in?

Did you need me more than I needed you?
Make believe you're sleeping now
so you can hear what I'm saying 
All I got was a Pat on my head

October 3-10, 1971
from Favorites
revised January 4, 2018

Together With Pleasure

Glassy-eyed girl that's afraid of the world
Crying in the corner where the two walls meet
You don't feel much until you try to touch
You can't see much unless you turn around
Feel your body's pressure on the steadfast ground
Then jump...scream and shout
That's what letting go's about
Then touch me...now you see
How beautiful our worlds could be
together with pleasure

It's hard not to please a man who likes everything
Who argues with you when you dislike something
Sad when he sees you'll be hurting in the long run
Who wants you safe and sound whenever the change comes
Feel your mind changing in the turbulent universe
Then feel good...get yourself out
of the ridicule and guilt you've been thinking about
Then touch me...now you see
How beautiful our worlds could be
together with pleasure

August 31, 1971
from Favorites
revised January 4, 2018

Free Fall

Free fall's a comin'
The summer made you wanna guess
why children were crying
In spite of love and tenderness

We're on the same highway
But we're traveling in different ways
I'm heading for the sunshine
You're heading for the haze 

middle progression:
Wanna come with me 
or don't you wanna go there?
Brush out your hair, 
I'll take you for a ride
Take a look around 
and picture dirty snow there
Then take a look at me 
and see there's nowhere to hide

Laughing in a vacuum, 
crying with your eyes closed
It's hard to touch your moods
when you're not sure yourself
I've stopped my trend of thought 
and am getting down to business
But when I came to bring you down
you fell off the shelf

Empty days are filling
my cup is runneth over
So much to see
I've lost sight of you
Free fall's the time 
to laugh about the summer
And joke about the times 
You said I wouldn't get through

return to main:
Free fall's a comin'
The summer made you want to guess
Why children were crying
In spite of love and tenderness

Summer? I loved you
but I fear you'll always be the same
a cesspool of pleasure
a lover who doesn't have a name

-Free fall,
ah free fall 
Free fall
I loved you free fall

A Religious Fall (Free Fall Revisited):
Savior's a-comin'
The pie is falling from the sky
The world will get itself together
Under one religious high

September 18, 1971
from "Favorites" 

Brand New Ray

A chair in the corner of the room
Makes the world look awful gloomy
The girls you expected to swoon
Think of you as silly puddy

refrain: What are you trying to say
Telling me to go away
Go to the temple and pray
Even though you know that's not the way

Don't hurt me that way
I'll get you back some sunny day
What do you expect me to say
I shoot myself the first of May

refrain: Well, you're wrong
You'll never hear me sing that song
You just better get out of the way
'Cause me and my mind are here to stay

So get out of the way (get out of the way)
I'm not the way you are today
You think you know what to say
Then there I am, a brand new ray of logic

And you knew you were wrong all the time
But your ego stopped you, isn't it a crime?
When the time comes
from me you won't get a dime 

refrain: What else is there to say
What else is there to say
What else is there to say
'Cause here I am, a brand new ray
A brand new ray of logic

And you knew you were wrong
And I knew you were wrong
Logic, logic, a new way of living
A brand new ray of logic...(fade)

November 13, 1971
from "Favorites" 

Garlic Gargoyle

Pelvics thrust the night away
The blue lagoon, a buzzard cries
Arab children dance and play
Now it comes
It's time to fly
Yes, it's here, the time for flight
We're gonna fly away tonight

A flock of kestrels fly on by
Indian jasmine fills the air
With each deep breath
Up we fly
Our magic carpet takes good care
Now we're up, really high
Seven miles into the deep blue sky

Refrain: We look down into a ball of fire
People stabbing each other in the back
We're not really running away
'Cause it's our time to be relaxed
We're gonna fly...

(Everything is so beautiful up here
Just ride the next tide
It's not as far away as you think
I mean, don't knock it until you've tried it!)

We come down from the trip
The trip was fair
We saw the fires
Flying through the air
I loved her, she loved him
Tomorrow night at ten again
(That's right; we're gonna do it again!)

Now it's passed
The time of flight
We're gonna have a ball tomorrow night
We're gonna fly!

June 1970
from Favorites