Never Enough

©1987 Andrew Calhoun, recorded on The Gates of Love and Phoenix Envy.

Never Enough 

Whatever I have, it is never enough,
Glide on smooth water and make it rough,
Own my own home and think it strange,
Sit in my kitchen, wait for life to change.

Out in my garden grow peaches and berries,
Up in the chimney live goblins and fairies;
Out by the rock by the water running,
Out by the rock by the lizard sunning,
I want to be free—not another dull tragedy, 
Come with me, I have seen the fields,
Come with me, I have seen the fields,

We walked two by two by eight, "
But the sun driving down and the candy we ate 
Made us ugly and mad,
Left us walking alone, in the dead zone,
In the dead zone.

Life came to visit, he was big in size,
He sat and he broke my chair and he told me lies
About the income tax and his other facts,
His coat was manifold, his manner stern in play,
He stuttered easily and he rose and died away.

Death came to visit, it was small in size,
And it spoke mo truth and it told no lies,
And it spoke no words but two blackbirds 
ffew out of his cape, in trying to escape, 
They bang the windowpane, bang the windowpane
Bang the windowpane, blackbirds, blackbirds, bang the windowpane
Bang the windowpane, bang the windowpane.

I am in the race, you are in the race,
We are God's own, we are no disgrace,
Cast your vote upon the water,
Cast your vote upon the rage,
Send your note up to the stage
This is your place,
This is my place,
Get that gong out of my face,
Get that gong out of my face,
Gong gong, gong gong, going gong gong gong gong

Give me shooboopadoo, give me shooboopadee,
Get my home run city out of slavery,
We were drunk in love, we were tip to bow,
We were high and full, but we are sober now,
We are sober now.

We know many things
They have made us weak
We have many friends with whom we do not speak
We have many sorrows which we cannot cry
if we’re still in darkness well we can't see why.

God is after you, Henry,
And I hear he's mad;
I heard him on the back porch,
Talking to your dad,
He said he's tired of ya
Running around his yard
Playing hide and seek
You'd better stay on guard,
God's wearing an old blue hat
And some baggy pants,
He's staking out the neighborhood
You haven't got a chance–
Here he comes, Henry, the Great Forgiver,
To unwind your bowels and pluck out your liver.

I will make a shield, Henry
With my little sister;
We'll go up to God and we'll say
"Hey, Mister, hey Mister, hey Mister,
Where's the barbershop
Where's the barbershop
We need a little off the top
Can you direct us to the barbershop?"
And if you get safe, Henry,
Go by Hell's door,
We still don't like you
Don't come around no more.

There's not much I want, just to make amends
With a former lover and a couple of friends
By a happy fire, on a little hill
I would like to read my will,
Tell a little story, and pass through glory
With a hand in a hand, a hand in a hand,
With a  hand in a hand in a hand,

But I fear for my children
And seeing them damned
I wait for the gang to come to the door,
Or the police to come—
With guns on their hips,
Lies to sign,
Slavery,
There will be no one, only many,
On a rack that goes around and breaks our backs across the ground
And again the sound, 
Unknown to the guard who stands outside
So pale and grim and strong and stupid
Send me back to Ethiopia
Send me back to Madrid,
I want to see my sister,
Hey Mister, want to see my sister again. 

Give me shooboopadoo, give me shooboopadee,
Get my home run city out of slavery,
We were drunk in love, we were tip to bow
We were high and full, but we are sober now
We are sober now.

Whatever I have, it is never enough,
Glide on smooth water and make it rough;
Own my own home and think it strange
Sit in my kitchen, wait for life to change.