Give me a pencil and paper, I just want to figure your time Well I'm gonna put it down in black and white, you know I ain't lyin' On the twelfth of April and the year in 19 and 61 On the twelfth of April and the year a 19 and 61 Ya know I watched it, a few times now, an' you and your man, was havin' fun Right then, I quitted you, but you begged me to take you back, uum Yeah, ya know I think I've quittin' that woman, but she begged me to take her back Yeah, you know I'z a man-a-my word, now and now this is the way, my bab-ay Um-hm 'Ciden' I said I'm through, bab-ay I mean I'm through 'Ciden' I said that I 'm through, bab-ay I mean I'm through Yeah, and I been so many people forgotten, one day I'm goin' to forget you...

If I say the words "I'm sorry" You won't really know how sorry Still, I'm gonna say I'm sorry Soon as you come home I just want to make you happy But I didn't make you happy So I'll try to make you happy Soon as you come home You were so good to me But I done you wrong You mean the world to me And you've been gone too long You said we'd always be together Then we didn't stay together But I know we'll stay together Soon as you come home And this time will be forever Soon as you come home

She says, "Wake up, it's no use pretending" I'll keep stealing, breathing her Birds are leaving over autumn's ending One of us will die inside these arms Eyes wide open Naked as we came One will spread our Ashes 'round the yard She says, "If I leave before you, darling Don't you waste me in the ground" I lay smiling like our sleeping children One of us will die inside these arms Eyes wide open Naked as we came One will spread our Ashes 'round the yard

Please, remember me happily By the rosebush laughing With bruises on my chin The time when we counted every black car passing Your house beneath the hill and up until Someone caught us in the kitchen With maps, a mountain range, a piggy bank A vision too removed to mention But please, remember me fondly I heard from someone you're still pretty And then they went on to say that the pearly gates Had some eloquent graffiti Like "We'll meet again" and "Fuck the man" And "Tell my mother not to worry" And angels with their gray handshakes Were always done in such a hurry And please, remember me at Halloween Making fools of all the neighbors Our faces painted white by midnight We'd forgotten one another And when the morning came, I was ashamed Only now it seems so silly That season left the world and then returned But now you're lit up by the city So please, remember me mistakenly In the window of the tallest tower call Then pass us by but much too high To see the empty road at happy hour Gleam and resonate just like the gates Around the holy kingdom With words like "Lost and found" and "Don't look down" And "Someone save temptation" And please, remember me as in the dream We had as rug-burned babies Among the fallen trees and fast asleep Beside the lions and the ladies That called you what you like and even might Give a gift for your behavior A fleeting chance to see a trapeze Swinger high as any savior But please, remember me, my misery And how it lost me all I wanted Those dogs that love the rain and chasing trains The colored birds above their running In circles 'round the well and where it spells On the wall behind St. Peter's So bright on cinder gray and spray paint "Who the hell can see forever?" And please, remember me seldomly In the car behind the carnival My hand between your knees, you turn from me And said the trapeze act was wonderful But never meant to last, the clowns that passed Saw me just come up with anger When it filled with circus dogs, the parking lot Had an element of danger So please, remember me, finally And all my uphill clawing, my dear But if I make the pearly gates Do my best to make a drawing Of God and Lucifer, a boy and girl An angel kissing on a sinner A monkey and a man, a marching band All around the frightened trapeze swingers Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na-na Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na-na Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na-na Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na-na

The trouble with the straight and the narrow Is its so thin, I keep sliding off to the side And the devil makes good use of these hands of mine And if Jesus is the straight path that saves Then I'm condemned to live my whole life on the curb On the crossroads with the devil, I'll dwell and I'll count my years You know that I got a little something I should say I guess that I'm just so easily led astray It's alright because I know my own way back home from here And I don't fall of the wagon you know I take a dive and go as deep as I can go Don't hold your breath cause I'm coming up slow, this time. And the trouble with the straight and the narrow Is its so thin, I keep sliding off to the side And the devil makes good use of these hands of mine You know that I got a little problem or two I guess that I keep on taking a few I've been told its not the best thing that I can do, right now And I don't go looking for my sins you know They come out waiting, and I just get on and go Don't hold your breath cause I'm coming up slow this time And the trouble with the straight and the narrow Is its so thin, I keep sliding off to the side And the devil makes good use of these hands of mine And if Jesus is the straight path that saves Then I'm condemned to live my whole life on the curb On the crossroads with the devil, I'll dwell and I'll count my years And the devil makes (straight and narow's so thin) And the devil makes (straight and narow's so thin) And the devil makes, good use of these hands of mine And the devil makes (straight and narow's so thin) And the devil makes (straight and narow's so thin) And the devil makes, good use of these hands of mine