Almost cut my hair
Happened just the other day
It’s gettin’ kind of long
I could’ve said it was in my way
Mama don’t understand
she wants to hold my hand
Night and day
She don’t like my clothes
They’re wearing thin
On her nerves
She don’t like my hair
My glorious crown
Brings her down
She had hair like Jeannie Shrimpton back in 1965
She had legs that never ended
I was halfway paralyzed.
She was tall and cool and pretty and she dressed as black as coal
If she asked me to I’d murder,
I would gladly lose my soul.
She was a cool blue redhead
She was a virgin vixen
She had the eyes of Lassie
She had the lips of Nixon
Lips like Tricia Nixon
I stole a sideways glance at her continental shelf
And I knew she was the devil himself
From nowhere through a caravan
Around the campfire light
A lovely woman in motion
With hair as dark as night
Her eyes were like that of a cat in the dark
That hypnotized me with love
She was a gypsy woman
I was born in the wagon of a travelling show
My mama used to dance for the money they’d throw
Papa would do whatever he could
Preach a little gospel, sell a couple bottles of
Doctor Good
Gypsys, tramps, and thieves
We’d hear it from the people of the town
They’d call us Gypsys, tramps, and thieves
But every night all the men would come around
And lay their money down
Oh, the path was deep and wide
From footsteps leading to our cabin
Above the door there burned a scarlet lamp
And late at night a hand would knock
And there would stand a stranger
Yes, I’m the son of Hickory Holler’s tramp
Now once there lived an old man with a very crooked nose
He lived in log hut and they called him Old Man Mose, yeah
Early one mornin’ I knocked at his door
Didn’t hear a single sound; I ain’t gonna do it no more
Someone’s knockin’ at the door
Somebody’s ringin’ the bell
Do me a favor
Open the door and let 'em in
Who can it be knocking at my door?
Go 'way, don’t come 'round here no more
Can’t you see that it’s late at night?
I’m very tired, and I’m not feeling right
All I wish is to be alone;
Stay away, don’t you invade my home
Best off if you hang outside
Don’t come in, I’ll only run and hide
Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?
Go away from my window
Leave at your own chosen speed
I’m not the one you want, babe
I’m not the one you need
You say you’re lookin’ for someone
Who’s never weak but always strong
To protect you and defend you
Whether you are right or wrong
Someone to open each and every door
He took a hundred pounds of clay
And they He said “Hey, listen”
“I’m gonna fix this-a world today”
"Because I know what’s missin’ "
He’s got everybody here in His hands,
He’s got everybody there in His hands,
He’s got everybody everywhere in His hands,
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah’s in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China’s under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can’t take it anymore
I know our mythic history, King Arthur’s and Sir Caradoc’s
I answer hard acrostics, I’ve a pretty taste for paradox
I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus
In conics I can floor peculiarities parabolous
I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies
I know the croaking chorus from The Frogs of Aristophanes!
Then I can hum a fugue of which I’ve heard the music’s din afore
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore
Charleston was once the rage, uh huh
History has banned that stage, uh huh
The miniskirt’s the current thing, uh huh
Tennybopper is our newborn king, uh huh
And the beat goes on, the beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La de da de de, la de da de da
I got rhythm, I got music, I got my man
Who could ask for anything more
I’ve got daisies in green pastures
I’ve got my man
Who could ask for anything more
I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day
When it’s cold outside I’ve got the month of May
I guess you’d say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin’ 'bout my girl (my girl)
Babe
I got you babe
I got you babe
I wish that I had Jessie’s girl
Where can I find a woman like that?