… And all the people say
You can’t wake up, this is not a dream
You’re part of a machine, you are not a human being
With your face all made up, living on a screen
Low on self-esteem, so you run on gasoline

… I think there’s a flaw in my code
(Oh, ooh-oh, ooh-oh, oh)
These voices won’t leave me alone

So everybody stand
Everybody wont you give a big hand
To the man on the burning tightrope?

He’s always walked this tightrope
Between the devil and the deep blue sea
A monkey on a wire
But he’s drunk his cup of sorrow
Hes thrown his curses at the moon
And it festers on the fire

So everybody stand
Everybody wont you give a big hand
To the man on the burning tightrope?

Come on, people, let’s hear it
Put your hands together
For the one, the only
The dieing man on the burning tightrope

He could have been somebody
He could have been somebody else
Yes, it could have been much worse
But now the show is over, people
There’s really nothing more to see
Hope you got your money’s worth

So everybody stand
Everybody wont you give a big hand
To the man on the burning tightrope?

Where do I go from here?
Or am I just like a clock spinning ’round?
Everything seems unclear
Confusion is raising its head and I can’t make a sound

And I feel it
Tearing at my soul while I’m asleep
I feel it
Driving me to something I’ll regret

What if I make the change?
What if I lose all my courage this time?
Everything seems so strange
Try but I can’t seem to make a decision that’s right

I feel it
Pounding like a drum inside my brain
I feel it
If it doesn’t stop I’ll go insane

I feel it
Tearing at my soul while I’m asleep
I feel it
Driving me to something I’ll regret

I feel it
I feel it
If it doesn’t stop I’ll go insane

I don’t believe in an interventionist God
But I know, darling, that you do
But if I did, I would kneel down and ask him
Not to intervene when it came to you
Will not to touch a hair on your head
Leave you as you are
If he felt he had to direct you
Then direct you into my arms

Past this square, past the bridge,
 past the mills, past the stacks
On a gathering storm comes
 a tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat with 
a red right hand

He’ll wrap you in his arms,
 tell you that you’ve been a good boy
He’ll rekindle all those dreams 
it took you a lifetime to destroy
He’ll reach deep into the hole,
 heal your shrinking soul
Hey buddy, you know you’re
 never ever coming back
He’s a ghost, he’s a god,
 he’s a man, he’s a guru
They’re whispering his name
 across this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat
 is a red right hand

You ain’t got no money?
He’ll get you some
You ain’t got no car?
He’ll get you one
You ain’t got no self-respect,
 you feel like an insect
Well don’t you worry buddy,
 cause here he comes
Through the ghetto and the barrio
 and the Bowery and the slum
A shadow is cast wherever he stands
Stacks of green paper in his 
red right hand

You’ll see him in your nightmares,
 you’ll see him in your dreams
He’ll appear out of nowhere but 
he ain’t what he seems
You’ll see him in your head, 
on the TV screen
And hey buddy, I’m warning
 you to turn it off
He’s a ghost, he’s a god, 
he’s a man, he’s a guru
You’re one microscopic cog 
in his catastrophic plan
Designed and directed by his red right hand

If you are the dealer, I’m out of the game
If you are the healer, it means I’m broken and lame
If thine is the glory, then mine must be the shame
You want it darker
We kill the flame

Magnified, sanctified
Be the holy name
Vilified, crucified
In the human frame
A million candles burning
For the help that never came
You want it darker

Hineni, hineni
I’m ready, my Lord

The higher that the monkey can climb
The more he shows his tail
Call no man happy ’till he dies
There’s no milk at the bottom of the pail

God builds a church
The devil builds a chapel
Like the thistles that are growing
‘Round the trunk of a tree

All the good in the world
You can put inside a thimble
And still have room for you and me

If there’s one thing you can say about mankind
There’s nothing kind about man
You can drive out nature with a pitch fork
But it always comes roaring back again

Misery’s the river of the world
Misery’s the river of the world
Misery’s the river of the world

The higher that the monkey can climb
The more he shows his tail
Call no man happy ’till he dies
There’s no milk at the bottom of the pail

God tempers all the ruins for the new shorn lands
The devil knows the Bible like the back of his hand
All the good in the world
You can put inside a thimble
And still have room for you and me

Filed under: Personal - @ 2025-06-04 3:13 am