The Autobiography of Milton Burroughs
Pawn Shop
1. We Could Take the Backroads
Go and wonder
Grin at the fingers pointing down at our in between
Go and wonder
Reign in your confidence until it knows that it’s seen
When photographs make like blood and bone
Don’t hold ‘em so far away
You could sing it out with me
And sidestep the frontroads
They’re so crowded to me
Go and wonder
Make me wear equipment ’til we fall right into place
Go and wonder
Maybe remember I remember just what you need
When photographs make like blood and bone
Don’t hold em so far away
You could sing it out with me
And sidestep the frontroads
They’re so crowded to me
Go and wonder
Miss me real good memories like currency
Go and wonder
It’s more than October, It’s like kicking up the leaves
You could sing it out with me
And sidestep the frontroads
They’re so crowded to me
2. The Autobiography of Milton Burroughs
I am a man big things on my shoulders
Do what I can with my factory late night ride
Bones make me feel like a car made of wood
I can’t afford to work as hard as I really should
I am a man normal’s as good as it gets
Do what I can to be what I am today
Cannot pay the doctor man what he is owed
He don asked me for my money and stare down at my toes
Jericho Jerusalem I feel my heart start to go
My wife she need the medicine so the boys they can grow
I’m a man
I am a man always keep my promise
Do what I can to believe the ones I receive
But the promise making men don’t make room for me
They’re violent with their comfort anything but comforting
Jericho Jerusalem salvation take the sting
We gon be grateful and good god we gon sing
We may be dying bu at least we ain’t killing
Don’t you know you can take your time figuring out
All of the little bitty crimes that make you doubt
I’m gon try to do what I can do so patiently
Reminding myself of you and how it used to be
Have we done as much as we can stand?
Have we done everything we can?
I know I love you now , that’s all I need somehow
Maybe it’s not you it’s what was said
We can make it through with our hearts and heads and be alright
And I will find you in Ohio
So many stories that I hear bout love not coming through
You know that just don’t have to be the story of me and you
Oh and I know that you got dreams, baby so do I
Mine are of the simplest kind with you by my side
Sister Louise well she did as she pleased
She kept that poor old husband down on his knees
Well the word did spread when she was not in her bed
Should have heard the things those people said
Ramshack the 3rd who brings them the word
Never did do well with all the rumors he heard
Anger’s his vice, you can just ask his wife
Never trust a reverend with a knife
Reverend ran into Sister Louise
Down at the grocery store
As it was told to me, he saw her on isle 3
Would not believe what she had in store
Ramshack run go on and get your gun
Get one for Petie he does not have one (repeat)
Brother De Ray whose hands had a way of picking up products with no intent to pay
Lil Lucy the bird told Ramshack the 3rd
You wouldn’t believe the series of events that occurred
Brother DeRay couldn’t find words to say
So he instinctively turn and ran
There’s no way to go that the Lord do not know
Rev had to punish them sticky hands
Ramshack used to pray for the people, now he’s found another way
When he looked down at the starting line
Stared him right back in his face
Told him to pity or get anxious
Cuz he had to keep his rhythm right
Enough pressure give the people some sight
When he gets into his dedications
They preoccupy more than release
He starts to pity and get anxious
Cuz he had to keep his rhythm right
Enough pressure gets his people through the night
Looking for a new way, new way so we can stand alone
Freedom on the freeways, byways, Until seeds get sown
Show me not to the back door, and tell me it’s mine to own
Looking for a new way to call my own
Resistance was the education
That brought back the old heartbeat
He starts to pity and get anxious
Cuz he had to keep his rhythm right
Enough pressure got him all the way through the night
Would it be too late for me to call?
Honey I don’t know the rules for this at all
I feel a little out of place
Would it cross the line for me to say:
I wasn’t feeling right but we came alive tonight
Sifting through what goes and should stay
Can you listen to these words with no restraint?
I kind of need you now to be, the sense inside the ambiguity
Because I’m not feeling right and we came alive tonight
I thought I’d rather be alone
and this was just a few minutes ago
my heart had grown so cold
You always put it in a simple way
you laugh at what I thought were my mistakes
Thank You’s such a tidy word
but it’s all that I have for times so absurd
I’m wasn’t feeling right but we came alive tonight
When the beats hit the floor and the Floor hits the beats
the thoughts all up in the head say: Down, Down, Put it Down
The Shoes I can’t tell you how they go, that something you have got to know
Sophistication, Lock in & sing if you’d like: Down, Down Put it Down
We gon dance all night, if it’s what you need we’re gonna make it right,
We’ll be movin’ til the morning light: Down Down Put it Down
Brothers, why avoid the cool? always looking for you
It’s feet on mat at your door..doorbell: Down, Down, Put it Down
Sisters, nobody’s got the up, just go til you’ve had enough
Throw dem watch clocks in the bottom of the bucket: Down, Down, Put it Down
We gon’ dance all night, if it’s what you need we’re gonna make it right,
We’ll be movin’ til the morning light: Down Down Put it Down
We Gon’ Dance, We Gon’ Dance, We Gon’ Dance Tonight
I’ve been waiting for a virture
That feels like a simple flame
We’ve got the time to follow through
Crabapple tree befriending the rain
Whoa my darlin
if our love must have a size
You are the grandest prize
Just tell me when it hurts you
(When you) shoot fireworks off in vain
Does the Roman wind just dry you?
I’ll bring you buckets full of rain
Every night a laugh or a sigh
(I see it)
Every night I see
There’s a song inside every reason
I should steer clear of the fluff
Had these questions for more than a season
folks say all I have is enough
I’m so quick to compare
to the brokers and bluffs
All you have is a bundle of songs
and you stay mainly out of touch
Sitting on porches, smiling at fruit flies
writing down feelings and such
There’s a strange way about her
there’s a strange way about me
But eventually
I’ll be easier to read
There’s a room that I keep just to sit in
keep it empty for some space
Spending all this time with paper
write it down and then erase
How well would she care, would I have to prove my case?
Try to hang on hopin’ there’d be patience for me
All the time just she’s just chuckling at the inconsistency
10. She Uses Love Like A Cuss Word
It’s way too late always comes out of her mouth
And it has been this way ever since she moved down south
There’s just some things that her pops never told her
That she could matter, pray, and had a lot going for her
You know you do your best to offer her a hand
But it’s more like picking out the salt from the sand
It’s a shame the way she’s guarded like the gates
It sneaks up on her… all the problems it creates
But she keeps on using love like a cuss word
Lately she’s talkative Tuesdays in the morning
She never cries, but her willow weep comes soaring
Sometimes she seems like a forest cool with shadow
But then a violence that erupts like a volcano
But she uses love like a cuss like a cuss word
And it’s more normal than I thought
Some people see the sun and sky but never get caught
Folks are too busy loving themselves
too much
or too little
and I’m stuck
in the middle
when she keeps on using
she keeps on using
yeah she keeps on using love
like a cuss word
So everybody starts using love like a cuss word
Your name is patience I’m follow through
You say it’s reckless and impromptu
I’ll treat this distance like stepping-stones
Your name is patience I’m follow through
Your name is bravery I’m holding clues
That I’ve been gathering and learned to use
A time to tarry to break it in
Your name is bravery I’m holding clues
Your name is waiting and mine is too
With all bets taken with all risk used
Until we’re standing with golden blues
Your name is waiting and mine is too
12. What Would I Do Were They Free?
How much for a breakthrough? How much for another first?
All negotiations are losing their weight
Every prayer I pray seems a second too late
So my hands are untied so pass me the rope
What would I do, what would I do
So my hands are untied, pass me the rope
What would I do were they free?
How much for consistency? How much for the right of way?
Negotiations are losing their weight, every prayer I pray seems a second too late
My hands are tied at the bottom of the steeple
