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All We Came To Do

by J.J. Hayes

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1.
Son of man, set your face like flint Say these words to the government Say these words to the violent: "You must tend to the wounded" Now God may not exist But He loves you as if He does So let us not insist That what is, is like what was Take my hand we'll walk The I-95 corridor Take my hand we'll walk Straight down to Baltimore Where the great Chris Toll once walked Alas, he walks no more But you could walk with me And I could walk with you In the city where he wrote: "Love is so hard and it's all we came to do" Thirty years is a long time without the veil of alcohol Hey, fifteen years is a long time With no excuses for the falls So let me by you a soda babe But let's sing a drinking song And by the time the cops arrive The whole damn bar will sing along By the end of the night When every gal and every guy Will raise their glasses high and amid the sloshing foam Assert we are alone We teach them all to sing these simple lines We sing: God may not exist But He loves you as if He does So let us not insist That what is, is like what was Take my hand we'll walk The I-95 corridor Take my hand we'll walk Straight down to Baltimore Where the great Chris Toll once walked Alas, he walks no more But you could walk with me And I could walk with you In the city where he wrote "Love is so hard and it's all we came to do" So we all get arrested for ontological drunkenness With a lesser included charge of public gentleness They let us off with a warning But on the courthouse steps We commit the crime again Before the gathered press We sing: God may not exist But He loves you as if He does So let us not insist That what is, is like what was Take my hand we'll walk The I-95 corridor Take my hand we'll walk Straight down to Baltimore Where the great Chris Toll once walked Alas, he walks no more But you could walk with me And I could walk with you In the city where he wrote "Love is so hard and it's all we came to do" In the city where he wrote "Love is so hard and it's all we came to do" "Love is so hard and it's all we came to do" from The Disinformation Phase by Chris Toll (Publishing Genius Press, Baltimore)
2.
SOC 04:03
When you turn thirty-two You've outlived a mighty crew Janice, Jimi, Robert Johnson, I had five years on you As I sat at my desk In 1989 While Kid Rock Sat by the lake In Northern Michigan My hair was short my hours were long I did the work of lawyers But the law brings death as scripture attests As did the classic rock stations I was looking for a spirit to give me life And you may not have liked my choice But it got me through some nights 'Cause the rum was in the drawer Malcolm X hung from the door And the weasly voice of Eazy-E Would fill the whole damn floor When I broke that boom box out 'Cause the bosses all had gone And played "Straight Outta Compton" All night long Well, I never did like that Lynyrd Skynyrd song It seemed to go mighty lightly On something mighty wrong I preferred the sounds of the sons Of southern refugees Crying "Fuck the police, fuck the police Fuck the police, fuck the police" The rum was in the drawer Malcolm X hung from the door And the weasly voice of Eazy-E Would fill the whole damn floor When I broke that boom box out Cause the bosses all had gone And played "Straight Outta Compton" All night long Well, as leaves that fall in autumn Hip-hop began to rot As the gangstas became the masters Like at the end of animal farm And my conscience bothers me As I go looking for the truth But I loved to hear that crazy motherfucker named Ice Cube The rum was in the drawer Malcolm X hung from the door And the weasly voice of Eazy-E Would fill the whole damn floor When I broke that boom box out Cause the bosses all had gone And played "Straight Outta Compton" All night long I played "Straight Outta Compton" All night long I played "Straight Outta Compton" All summer long.
3.
Pharaoh 03:24
See the women Walking on concrete Where once they strolled On cherry blossom carpets And why, oh why, must there always come a time When a Pharaoh will rise who knows not Joseph? They were sitting in a Nuremberg beer garden Talking 'bout the city, the trials and the laws Sitting in a Nuremberg beer garden And a random wind was blowing The saw dust 'round the floor Said the elder to the younger "I hear you went in-country" Said the younger to the elder "I hear you climbed a mountain. And why, oh why must there always come a time When a Pharaoh will rise who knows not Joseph?" So they raised their glasses To the women that they wronged They raised their glasses To the women in their songs They raised their glasses In the city that made them They raised their glasses To the love that might have saved them Oh see the women walking on concrete Where once they strolled on cherry blossom carpets And why oh why must there always come a time When a Pharaoh will rise who knows not Joseph? So they took their guitars through the memory of a forest One past the hospital The other past the courthouse And the stench of white roses Trampled in the asphalt Rose to meet the smell of New York City summer piss Oh see the women walking on concrete Where once they strolled on cherry blossom carpets And why oh why must there always come a time When a Pharaoh will rise who knows not Joseph? When a Pharaoh will rise who knows not Joseph When a Pharaoh will rise
4.
The man next to me is rapping As if his words could fuck you up It's like "Come to my neighborhood, nigga My niggas gonna fuck you up!" But he's just a schlemiel like me Inside this particular fantasy Of resistance to the local tyranny And a single platoon could crush them Now maybe God will crush all unjust armies But maybe that's my petty indignation Just my small man's reading of the Revelation As if the plaintive patience and the vindication Of the witnesses beneath the altar Were meant for schlemiels like me. My friend loves his Second Amendment His guns could fuck you up IIt's like "Send your armies to my neighborhood, nigger, My boys gonna fuck you up!" But he's just a schlemiel like me Inside this particular fantasy Of resistance to a distant tyranny And a well-trained platoon could crush them And maybe God will crush all unjust armies But maybe that's my petty indignation Just my small man's reading of the Revelation As if the plaintive patience and the vindication Of the witness beneath the altar Were meant for schlemiels like me Yes, maybe God will crush all unjust armies But maybe that's my petty indignation Just my small man's reading of the Revelation As if the plaintive patience and the vindication Of the witness beneath the altar Were meant for schlemiels like me.
5.
Your God of mercy, seems like no God at all Nobody cares and everything is permitted But the days when I think that God might be just Are the days when you'll find that my pants have been shitted The pendulum swings Like England used to First burn the Prods And then kill the Papists Now it's judgment for the torturers Judgment for the killers Judgment for the judges And judgment for the rapists But have mercy on me, have mercy on me I had them thoughts, I just Lacked the opportunity Have mercy on me, have mercy on me I had them thoughts I just lacked the opportunity It was Zarathustra in his cave Zarathustra meets the hermit Could it be that this old man Could it be that this old monk Has not heard the news? Your God of mercy seems like no God at all Nobody cares and everything is permitted But the days when I think that God might be just Are the days when you'll find that my pants have been shitted Well, the pendulum swings like England used to Libel to Jews and make war on the Moslems Now it's judgment for the Presidents Judgment for the Imams And all your kings-equivalent who are pawns of the darkness But have mercy on me, have mercy on me I had them thoughts I just lacked the opportunity Have mercy on me, have mercy on me I had them thoughts I just lacked the opportunity It was Zarathustra in his cave Zarathustra meets the hermit Dylan and Eric in the lunchroom Could it be that this old monk Has not heard the news? I'm gonna hit the gas on my mechanical camel Point it down the road at the needle's eye There'll be shattering of glass and shearing of metal If I aim just right I'll make heaven on the fly But have mercy on me, have mercy on me I had them thoughts I just lacked the opportunity Have mercy on me, have mercy on me I had them thoughts I just lacked the opportunity Have mercy on me.
6.
The Light 03:27
Oh the light that shines upon the Buddha's finger Is neither Buddha, finger, moon, nor the truth It's just the light that shines on Buddha's finger Buddha's finger pointing at the moon He saw her in the sunlight by the water He'll be singing "Boys of Summer" from now on He guesses that he'll love her long after The sunlight and her beauty are both gone But the light that shines upon the Buddha's fingers Is neither Buddha, finger, moon, nor the truth It's just the light that shines on Buddha's finger Buddha's finger pointing at the moon And the light that shines upon the Beauty's finger Is neither Beauty, finger, diamond, nor the truth It's just the light that shines on her finger She twists the ring and wonders what to do 'Cause the light that shines upon the Buddha's finger Is neither Buddha, finger, moon nor the truth It's just the light that shines on Buddha's finger Buddha's finger pointing at the moon.
7.
Spark 02:33
I don't dig you better dead Even if you fucked that guy from Joe Jackson's band And I don't dig you better dead Even if you likely blew that transit cop as well I don't dig you in a prayer flag world I don't dig you better dead And I don't dig you better dead Even if you multiplied imaginary lovers I don't dig you better dead Even though you had a gaping hole in your womb I don't dig you in a prayer flag world I don't dig you better dead And I don't dig you as a sort of eternal Facebook friend Kept alive Oh kept alive By all these postings like faded roadside wreaths And I don't dig you better dead Even if your spark should move to another set of molecules I don't dig you in a prayer flag world Destined to be born and then forget just who you were I don't dig you kept alive in this rhyme I don't dig you better dead
8.
The system of the world as I crossed the bridge that night Was the system of the world for every single night Just the earth and its objects The moon and the sun The planets and the fixed distant stars A broken hope of memory Had turned me from the light The same external melody That draws me out to fight Against the earth and its objects The moon and the sun The planets and the fixed distant stars But a French girl was dancing to "Holiday in Cambodia" Amid the aperitifs Amid the sweet liqueurs And the red clay of her hometown Is like the red earth of the Dakotas Where the stars shine So the system of the world As I cross the bridge tonight Is not the system of the world Like any other night It's the earth and its objects The moon and the sun The planets and the fixed distant stars And a French girl dancing to "Holiday in Cambodia" Amid the aperitifs Amid the sweet liqueurs And the red clay of her home town Is like the red earth of the Dakotas Where the stars shine From horizon to horizon
9.
I'd hoped you'd got out with that joy you had 'Cause things were looking like things went bad And all them boys that you held in your hands Did your beauty ever break their hearts Did your beauty ever break their hearts Did your beauty ever I'm came in at the tale end of that boomer crew They were off in their communes getting screwed Or maybe making porn with some German dudes But did your beauty ever break their hearts? They followed the Dead until Jerry died They sang "Let's pass around the women like a bottle of wine." And I know sometimes you didn't mind But did your beauty ever break their hearts? I remember the night I was first on the floor Of the legendary Studio 54 There was sex and there was cocaine on the bathroom floor But did your beauty ever break their hearts. So I fall on my knees in the semblance of prayer And send out my petitions to who knows where I cry "You demand that I never despair But Your beauty just breaks my heart." And I know you're a beauty but you're not all right I can tell by your eyes that you miss the light And if I could shine, I would shine tonight Your beauty just breaks my heart Your beauty just breaks my heart Your beauty I hope you get out with that joy you had 'Cause things were looking like things were bad But all them boys that you held in your hands Did your beauty ever break their hearts? Did your beauty ever break their hearts? Did your beauty ever

credits

released July 18, 2013

J.J. Hayes - Vocals and guitar
Becca Chambers - Violin
Morgan Heringer - Vocals
Rachel Laitman - Vocals
Charles Mansfield - Guitar

Produced, recorded and mixed by Beau Alessi
Artwork by Mike Shoykhet
Thanks to SpeakerSonic for the room
Special thanks to Kathleen Maria King

All songs written by J.J. Hayes

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