Dragline

Well, you wake up in the morning
To the ding-dong-dang
Marchin’ to the table
To the same damn thing
There’s a knife on the table
A cup, and a pan
Say anything about it
You’re in trouble with the man

That’s right, baby boy’s
Got boxed in the balls
Playin’ cards with barbed wire
Wrapping the walls
Cat calls hollered
At a full grown man
Your head held high
But you don’t understand
There’s a stench in the silent day
Hearing that blade swish
Chopping the weeds down
Like every wish
Like cleaning the mind
Like cleaning the dish
And loosing that kiss
That sticks to your ribs
So you climb of the bunk
And you grab that cold drink
You won playing poker
With sissies and finks
“Dragline, Dragline
"Show us your teeth…
“Dragline, Dragline…”
The lion beneath
Pounces at tumbleweeds
And slate gray bad days
And slinks to the chapel
While the good hound dog bays
And kneels at the crucifix
Ready to pray
Not a word to say
Not a word to say

Baby, you sitting
On a suicide train
You got a thousand dollar heart
But a ten-cent brain
The midnight special
In the bayou blood
Boy, blood’s gonna run
From this Alabama stud
And you walk across the yard
Like the slyest thing
Wearing that chain
Like a diamond ring
With a mind wiped clean
With spit shining
But remember…
Remember…
Remember nights on the bank?
Pig on spit?
A town full of honeys
Who all wanted it?
Remember cuffs on your wrist?
Your name on a list?
The pitch and the swing
And the cheer and the miss?
Yeah, dreams that stink
Like drunken piss
And Saturday, baby
You wrap it up in your fist
And you lay down right
And you lay down wrong
And these sweaty bitches
All follow along
Yeah, these jailbirds
Sing the Dragline Song
Singing, “Blah blah blah blah
"Bing bang bong
"I’m out in five and, honey
"That ain’t long”
But when the good dog dies
Hallelujah bye and bye
When the good dog dies
When the good dog dies

Buckets of water
Rice and beans
The whistle blow
You know what that means
It’s a chilling wind
A sick sort of draft
You just a bum to good folks
Just a pain in the ass
And when you peek from the chain gang
To the rat race
You’re looking through the fence
At a woman’s face
And BANG! BANG!
And your face gets so hot
BANG!

Ha, that’s a warning shot
With guns and muscles
They’re digging for dopes
And you’re the dented bucket
They throw out on a rope
Just to bring all the small stones
Under control
Come on, don’t you see, they’re making walls
Out of you men?
How can you sleep
Inside the jackal’s den?
And don’t you get mad
When they’re condescending?
Now, I can only think of one way
Out of this yard
It don’t take no hot hand
It don’t take no wild card
No, this place don’t want
Nothing but blood
Golgotha gold
And the Reaper’s cud
One of these day’s
You’ll find me dead on the floor
Because I’m going up
To see my lord
Every time you’ve seen
These blue eyes smiling
Baby, you’ve been seeing
These blue eyes crying