Vic Chesnutt - West of Rome

 

 

Latent/Blatant

Hardcore greedy, greedy man
loud with the ladies
mister arrogant
mister arrogant
mister arrogant
Neverending sagas and such
Enemy of Mr. McGruff

latent, blatant..latent, blatant
latent, blatant..latent, blatant

Greasy on the hair
I don’t have to touch it
so what should I care?
what should i care?
what should i care?
What are your intentions?
It’s hard to believe
you ain’t searching
for something to squeeze

latent, blatant..latent, blatant
latent, blatant..latent, blatant

 

Bug

"Michelle loves Willie"
"Our little Sarah"
"Daughters of the American Revolution"
"Stryper loves Jesus" and I love a girl
Against my better judgment
’Cause I feel like a squirrel

My roommates got married and I booted up
And a friend of ours told me that I was disgusting
My roommates got married and I booted up
And a friend of ours told me that I was disgusting

Walhalla is pinned to the edge of South Carolina
we interstate travelled just to free a man from China
Hotel full of Pakistanis
And a front porch filled with greasy greasy grannies

When the bug hits that’s the time to scratch it
When the bug hits that’s the time to scratch
When the bug hits that’s the time to scratch it
When the bug hits that’s the time to scratch

Walhalla is pinned to the edge of South Carolina
we interstate travelled just to free a man from China
Hotel full of Pakistanis
And a front porch filled with greasy greasy grannies

When the bug hits that’s the time to scratch it
When the bug hits that’s the time to scratch
When the bug hits that’s the time to scratch it
When the bug hits that’s the time to scratch

 

Withering

What are you doing withering away
Yes i’ve heard you’ve lost the will to play
Whatever happened to those fluid movements
You were so proud of in the intimate moments

What about the girl you left at the altar
Now now now she is planning your funeral
Didn’t you learn anythign at the protest rally
when you and yours were flooding the capital

What about your days of glory
when your life was anything but boring
Now you’re making these morbid phone calls
And your friends they gather to cuss and console

What were you doing in that awful decade
after the news broke and those murderous policies were made
What were you doing running around
When i was here for you well away from that crowd

 

Sponge

Pleasure is melting like chocolate
My blue ribbon gumption is gone
All my gravy must have soaked into something
And the world...

The filthy steps, the cold concrete
The phony earth below my feet
The ancient odour of the street
Yes the world, world, world it is a sponge
Yes the world, world, world, world, world it is a sponge

When the crisis passes
When the coast is clear
I’ll be buffed down to a liquid
and the world, world, world it is a sponge
Yes the world, world, world, world, world it is a sponge
Yes the world, world, world, world, world it is a sponge

Throughout this entire ugly outing
I’ve been mumbling the convex of what I should be shouting
But I’ll soon be silent you’ll soon hear nothing
’cause the world, world it is a sponge
The world, world, world, world, world it is a sponge
The world, world, world, world, world it is a sponge

 

Where Were You

Where were you two years ago when I was locked out there at the barn
when some certain athens sacred monster was doing me in the charm
we could’ve been chatting heart to heart on that front porch with a view
Where were you girl when I needed you

Where were you two weeks ago, a week again after your promise
I was in your place of employment crying in my humus
Somebody in there said "boy you’re looking bad"
And I said "you know that is nothing new"
Where were you girl when I needed you

Were you in that second story well lighted place
Up against it’s occupant artist in his personal space
I know that has been known to happen but I though all of that was through
Where were you girl when I needed you

Where were you last monday when I was overwrought
I was watching the bright bug lamp flicker
you were doing up the dim dim 40-watt
I was alone with Pepe Lopez
I just couldn’t do the schmooze
Where were you girl when I needed you

Where are you this sunday morning I’m in shaky health
I am in the back yard leaking on the spot where you proclaimed yourself
You are hungry wanting breakfast and my heart is in a stew
Where were you girl when I needed you

 

Lucinda Williams

imports and altercations
my faculties on a shoe-string vacation
I settled down on a hurt as big as Robert Mitchum
and listen to Lucinda Williams

oh, convenient lies, rubber knives
I’m a dastardly villain, doing belly dives
I before E except after me
I’m dowsing my vitals at break-neck speed

you and your little entourage
playing amazing little parlor games in the garage
like a jury of my peers triangulating
my pretty point of exasperation
yes we gather for some of that Catholic juice
and hide behind the shower curtain, i watch the virgin spruce
I’m soaking wet and feeling funny
the mirror’s a mirage, no wonder I always look so crummy

my heroes are all off in the great beyond
England is old but Atlantis is gone
feathers are floating down, and I can’t dodge them
the tar is oozing from my little noggin
it’s ugly ancient residue
there ain’t no mistaking what’s been abused

feathers are floating down and I can’t dodge them
the tar is oozing from my little noggin
it’s ugly ancient residue
there ain’t no mistaking who’s been accused

 

Florida

Florida, Florida, the redneck riviera
Florida, Florida, there’s no more pathetic place in America
Yes a man must make unpopular decisions
Surely from time to time
And a man can only stand what a man can stand
It’s a wobbly volatile life

Florida, Florida, the water table is fucked
Florida, Florida, there’s no more perfect place to give it all up
Yes, a man must take his life in his own hands
Hit those nails on the head
And i respect a man who goes to where he wants to be
Even if he wants to be dead

Florida, Florida, its a tropical paradise
Florida, Florida, theres no more perfect place to retire from life

 

Stupid Preoccupations

I am sick of you
Expecting me to do
All these puny ingratiations
You know I am a terrible patient
I am barely alive
Ever since my daddy died
I’ve been searching for my own little babies
To misbehave and betray me
I tie one on to all the others
And say a soggy toast to all my drunken brothers
"They’ve got organizations for people like me with stupid preoccupations"

Y’all are all innocent
I’m just bitching at your expense
And the price for cockiness is worth swiping
It’s primal griping
I am nearly reformed
So don’t say that you weren’t warned
’Cause when I break into a smile that is aching
It may be too ugly to look on
Hallelujah for the ghosties
And all those scary monsters under the boiling seas
"They’ve got organizations for people like me with stupid preoccupations"

 

Panic Pure

my earliest memory is of holding up a sparkler
high up to the darkest sky
some 4th of July spectacular
I shook it with an urgency I’ll never be able to repeat

at times i might be accused of being painfully nostalgic
but as of late i’m looking forward to the future
thought i’ve never been much of a planner
throwing caution into the fan
catch as catch as catchers can

and so all you observers in your scrutiny
don’t count my scars like tree rings
my jigsaw disposition, it’s piecemeal properties
are either smoked or honey cured
by the panic pure

 

Miss Mary

Miss Mary took a shower and she showed herself to me
she said that God and all his glory was revealed to her carnally
she said she’d been with no man, but she must have been with me
and when I felt her with my finger, the proof burned my belief
so how much can I stand, I’m just a mortal man
I wring my praying hands, she stands there before me
c’est la vie, whatever that means, la di da
and a Doris Day, que sera sera
c’est la vie, whatever that means, la di da
and a Doris Day, que sera sera

 

Steve Willoughby

Someday I’m gonna be rich
Someday I’m gonna be bona fide
Someday I’m gonna be
Just like Steve Willoughby
But today I’m simply I’m simply terrified
I’m terrified

Someday I’m gonna be bright
Someday I’m gonna be smarter smarter than smart
Someday I’ll know some things
Just like Larry King
But today I simply I don’t know where to start
I don’t know where to start

Someday I’m gonna be hot
Someday I’m gonna be bigger bigger than big
Someday I’ll be adored
Just like Wally George
But today I simply I ain’t worth a fig
I ain’t worth a fig

Someday I’m gonna be good
Someday I’m gonna be virtuous
Someday I’ll be a paragon
Like Louis Farrakahan
But today I simply I’m a mess
I’m in a mess

Someday I’m gonna be cool
Someday I’m gonna kick major major butt
Someday I will transcend
Just like Jane’s Addiction
But today I simply, I am in a rut
I’m in a rut

Someday I’ll get a career
Someday I’m gonna stop wasting all my time
Someday I’ll gain a skill
Just like Deborah Norville
But today I simply I ain’t worth a dime
I ain’t worth a dime

 

West of Rome

West of Rome, just east of the border
in a static-y ramada inn
polishing his boots and pummeling his liver
steeped in the dark isolation
just what business does he have around here
credentials are wearing out with each little bit of cheer
yes it’s a bad scene we’re convening

brushing his teeth and milking his ulcer
preparing to waste another wily morning
stroking himself and them phoning up his sister
he tells her their life would make one whale of a movie
yes a childhood full of dry goods and wet neglect
the father they now sponge off they have no absorbing respect
yes he’s a glad boy to have such a void
yes he’s a martyr crawling accross cobble stones
from his cozy cottages just west of Rome
yes its a sad state for great suffering

 

Big Huge Valley

well the big huge valley is a ribbon of light
the aqueducts are snakes tonight
the stars are homesteaders, staking claims
my head is hopping with historical names
transfer trucks are buffalos
chewing up this desert road
yes and i am nothing especially
just an uptight man on a useless journey

and the oil is pumping up out of the dirt
those virile dinosaurs continue to squirt
and the mountains lay like croaker sacks
the global forces sculpt with tectonic panache
and the crop duster flies through those blackish skies
she ain’t on the clock
she’s banking in and pulling out
her propeller eyes on the wind sock

well the big huge valley is on a respirator
life juices pumped from up in the sierras
the almond trees battle their own disease
the hay is jaundiced and the raisins wheeze
cattle march uner the knife
i do believe the big doctor is sweating up a storm tonight

 

Soggy Tongues

narrowed eyes and soggy tongues
beautiful rumors are flying about the ugly ones
the girl she is by the pool
yellow journalists’ jewel
and all those wagging fingers
are silly little stingers

rabbits are cooking breakfast the fog is fragrant
the girl she is waking up against the famous vagrant
the cool council is tallying fines to be levied
the girl she is tightly grinning the vagrant thinks it’s all too heavy

presents are presented and bribes reluctantly taken
summer’s sweetie iced a cohort while the rest of the town was baking
traffic is light and appetites are hearty and tongues are soggy
accusations are tossed like darts at the good little girl who is groggy

 

Nathan

the great grandfather, with his pious beard
bathed in the river, all his years
many books, that lined his walls
Jews and gentiles, held him in awe

Nathan stepped through the broken window
and looked to the river where his mother once floated
Nathan stepped through the broken window
and looked to the river where his mother once floated

he had four sons, all healthy and proper
one was converted, became a christian doctor
his daughter filled with typhus and succumbed
he grew quiet his wife fell dumb

Nathan stepped through the broken window
and looked to the river where his mother once floated
Nathan stepped through the broken window
and looked to the river where his mother once floated

his grandaughter recalled, the day he died
she was six years old, frosted with fright
she clutched the toe, the stiff cold toe
and renounced the wrongs only she could know

Nathan stepped through the broken window
and looked to the river where his mother once floated
Nathan stepped through the broken window
and looked to the river where his mother once floated

 

Dying Young

Holes in his sweater, fluid in his lungs
The experts say there’s things
He should've done better
But instead he is just dying young

And tired of disbelieving, sick of struggling
The experts busy
Their gloved hands are relieving
The symptoms of dying young

Yeah, he wished he was a lawyer
Maybe like Perry Mason
He would sue them 'til they are scrawny
Instead of lying there dying young

Sometimes when he's angry
He has a sharp tongue
The experts, they just fill him full of ice cream
They know that he is dying young

Yeah, he wishes he was an actor
Maybe like Rock Hudson
Instead of just another layman
Lying there dying young

Yes, he dreamed about an angel
And he thought about a gun
The experts, they file in by the roomful
Watching him dying young
Yeah, the experts, they file in by the roomful
Watching him dying young

 

Confusion

Well, when I woke up this morning
The sky was so bright
It'd been a raining for days
Now it seemed like everything was a gonna be alright

But still those November winds keep a blowing
And I'm forgetting just where to begin
And then I'm lost in confusion again
Yes, I'm lost in confusion again

Well, the broom straw is a dying
Various shades of brown
And over the hill I can see the skyline
Of the most famous Georgia college town

Still those November winds k eep a blowing
And I'm forgetting just where to begin
Then I'm lost in confusion again
Yes, I'm lost in confusion again

Just when I think I've tied up all my little ravels
I come across a new row of tatters
It seems I'm getting sick of a taking care of
Life and other matters

Well, there's a few hundred blackbirds
That's a covering my yard
They're a falling from the trees like pecans
Except they ain't hitting the ground quite as hard

Still those November winds keep on a blowing
And I'm forgetting just where to begin
And I'm lost in confusion again
Yes, I'm lost in confusion again