Ways of the World

Gauthier

When I was a kid I was a hard headed pig tailed tomboy
I made mama crazy cause I wouldn’t wear dresses and bows
I played with boys and I liked tackle football
I shot snakes with my brother down at the fishing hole

I’d fantasize I was Evil Kineval
I built ramps jumped garbage cans broke my wrist bone
Picked blackberries in the summer reaching right thru snake spit
Mama said girl slow down you’re accident prone

The best part of those days is I was carefree
Nobody telling me to act more like a girl
When you’re 10 years old it’s cute to be a tomboy
But in a couple of years you gotta deal with the ways of the world

In the summer I’d cut grass to make a few bucks
I worked for Mr. Jones for years he called me son
I’d take his money and I’d say thank you kindly
He thought I was a boy I didn’t tell him I wasn’t one

Then came the time there was no getting out of it
They made me wear a dress to a wedding I was in
My brother laughed at my dress and I punched his lights out
The day was ruined and mama said never again

I saved up fifty dollars and bought a dirt bike
It lasted three days till mama took a heart attack
I never shoulda popped that wheelie with mama watching
I scared her half to death, she made me bring the damn thing back

I Don't Know Nothing 'Bout Love

Gauthier

I can catch and skin catfish mama
Smother collard greens
I bake a mean cornbread
I was born in New Orleans
I spend my life traveling
I write my own songs
But I don’t have a clue
Where my poor heart belongs
Since you left me I’m taking a day to day aching
I don’t know nothing ‘bout love

My friend they were our friend now my friends
they are gone
I get nervous when the phone rings

The Other Side of Free

Gauthier

I carry you with me like summer carries fall
Like daylight carries darkness to nights I recall
Those nights enfold me like you used to hold me till dawn’

I’ve been to the bottom took a good look around
On my hand and my knees where surrender is found
I pray to forget you, yet in my heart you live on

You didn’t want the need that I gave you
I lost my dignity
In the cool of your shimmering shadow
Where I live with you inside of me
On the other side of free

You came thru to court me from another century
The web spun behind you a shrouded mystery
I no longer fight it your candles blessed and I light it and pray

You didn’t want the need that I gave you
I lost my dignity
In the cool of your shimmering shadow
Where I live with you inside of me
On the other side of free

Goddamn HIV

Gauthier

My name is Michael Joe Alexandry
I been a queer since the day I was born.
My family, they don't say much to me,
My heart knows their silence has scorn
My friends have been dying all my best friends are dead
I walk around these days, with their picture in my head
Spend my time thinking 'bout the things they say
I don't know what’s happening to me, goddamn HIV

I don't know what all this means
I don't think it means what it seems

We used to party all night 'til the dawn
I can still see the boys with their tight leather on
In the downtown bars, where it always is night
I can hang with my friends 's still allright
I was 30 when the thickness first came
It rolled through my world like a wind driven flame.
Leaving ashes, memories, funerals and pain
I don't know what's happening to me, goddamn HIV

I don't know what all this means
I don't think it means what it seems

When I was a boy I get scared at night
My momma would come, turn on the light
But there's nobody here with me tonight
And I’m scared to close my eyes and get some sleep
Sometimes at dusk I walk the train track
I walk and I walk like I ain't coming back
I look at the sky so endless and black
Man I swear it’s swallowing me
Goddamn HIV

I don't know what all this means
I don't think it means what it seems

Old Love Never Dies

Gauthier

Have you ever noticed when you find a new love it seems
To stir up the old loves that rest deep in your dreams?
Do you find yourself talking to that new love you found,
About someone long gone whose memory is rolling back round?

Old love never dies
There are times in my life when I when I still feel every good-bye
In the dark your eyes spark like the one whose eyes used to shine
I lie next to you with memories in this heart of mine

When a romance is over, do you try to make yourself forget?
Do you bury your hopes and your dreams in a heap of regret?
Do you keep you love letters tucked neatly away?
Knowing you’ll read them again, when you’re ready, one day?

Old love never dies
There are times in my life when I when I still feel every good-bye
In the dark your eyes spark like the one whose eyes used to shine
I lie next to you with memories in this heart of mine

You're All I Wanna Do

Gauthier

Hello Baby, I’m so glad that we met I wrote this little song
Dedicated to my one true love for how well we get along

I like Country music you like Alice In Chains
You put your coffee on my dashboard you’re driving me insane
The way you leave the bathroom gives me a heart attack
We’ve got one thing in common, and it keeps me coming back

It’s a physical attraction, a mutual dislike
Sexual satisfaction, turned into a chicken fight
I can’t believe I’m sitting here wasting time with you
But you’re so damned good looking babe
You’re all I wanna do

You always keep me waiting when we go out on a date
The first time I met your mama we arrived two hours late
You borrow all my best clothes and you never bring them back
I told you I got allergies, you brought home two cats

It’s a physical attraction, a mutual dislike
Sexual satisfaction, turned into a chicken fight
I can’t believe I’m sitting here wasting time with you
But you’re so damned good looking babe
You’re all I wanna do

Ever Easy

Gauthier

I close my eyes and I see
There’s no escape you’re always there
Your name lingers on my lips like and adolescent prayer
I can’t stand it when you’re gone but I’m bound to misery
Cause I don’t know how to hold you when you’re next to me

I don’t wanna leave you, I don’t wanna stay
I don’t wanna keep on keeping on this way
Each moment is a mystery we never know how we will be
I’m worn out from intensity, why won’t it ever get easy

Here we go again babe, getting blown around by the wind
It pushes us together then pulls us apart again
You say you’re gonnaleave me and I beg you to stay
But when I get your heart back mine goes away

I don’t wanna leave you, I don’t wanna stay
I don’t wanna keep on keeping on this way
Each moment is a mystery we never know how we will be
I’m worn out from intensity, why won’t it ever get easy

Skeleton Town

Gauthier

Joey got sick in ’82
Back there wasn’t much the doctors could do
They put him in the General I.C.U.
And the whispering started cause some people knew
Joey’s got the sickness that’s got no cure
They put warning signs on Joey’s door
Half of the staff on Joey’s floor said
I ain’t going in that room no more

Skeleton town, it’s a skeleton town
Shadows keep moving when the sun goes down
There’s plenty of ways to say good-bye
In the darkness shadow multiply
In skeleton Town

Joey’s daddy got angry and started to yell
Told the nurses they could all go straight to hell
Put his fists on the counter, looked ‘em in the eye
He said, “My son deserves better and he started to cry.”
Joeys mama walked up and took his daddy’s hand
She said, “Honey lets talk him back home again.”

Skeleton town, it’s a skeleton town
Shadows keep moving when the sun goes down
There’s plenty of ways to say good-bye
In the darkness shadow multiply
In skeleton Town

Joey’s mama sat with him every day
With her rosary beads in her hands she’d pray
The doctor looked down he had nothing to say
He’d never seen a sickness do a man this way
The neighbors started talking then the talking broke down
Someone shouted lets run their asses out of town

Rock And Roll Lies

Gauthier

Standing at Lincoln and 7 Edson cemetery in Lowell
The maple leaves are blazing like sparks flying off of God’s soul
Jack Kerouc is buried here
He died a miserable man
Spokesman for his generation
That’s more than the poet could stand

Rock and Roll lies, Rock and Roll lies
All that burn, burn, burn, burning killed Sal Paradise
Killed Janis and Jimmy, Kurt Elvis and Jim
I wish they were still singing I really miss them

Subterranean hipsters, the beatniks, the flower child
Every new wave creates customers making the record man smile
What’s left when the glory consumes you
And you can’t tell truth from a lie?
And the one thing you still believe in you must sell to whoever will buy

Rock and Roll lies, Rock and Roll lies
All that burn, burn, burn, burning killed Sal Paradise
Killed Janis and Jimmy, Kurt Elvis and Jim
I wish they were still singing I really miss them

An American flag in a port bottle
Sits there right next to Jacks grave
On The Road is a Rock and Roll scripture from the land of the free and the brave

Rock and Roll lies, Rock and Roll lies
All that burn, burn, burn, burning killed Sal Paradise
Killed Janis and Jimmy, Kurt Elvis and Jim
I wish they were still singing I really miss them

Mama Louisiana

Gauthier

The wink in a Cajuns Eye a cast iron pot full of jambalaya
The whistle of the Delta Queen sugar cane young and green
The bayou water moves so slow like the people there, there’s no rush, no
Mardi Gras Indians, Dixie Beer, sugar mills and a Fais Do Do
Mama Louisiana is calling me home
Mama Louisiana is calling me home

Highway 1 to Thibodaux, the Sunshine Bridge, spicy gumbo
Sitting in the Quarter sipping Hurricanes avoiding the flash folds and summer rains
Edwin Edwards, Huey Long Jimmy Swaggart and drinking songs
Louisiana’s children come and go but the mighty Mississippi just flows
Mama Louisiana is calling me home
Mama Louisiana is calling me home

I can’t wait to get back home and see my family
What matters now are the people in my heart
I dream of that southern road and my mama’s laughter
I been gone too long, it’s tearing me apart

Mama Louisiana is calling me home
Mama Louisiana is calling me home
Mama Louisiana is calling me home
Mama Louisiana is calling me home
Mama Louisiana is calling me home
Mama Louisiana is calling me home
Mama Louisiana is calling me home
Mama Louisiana is calling me home