Arise, ye time keepers and ye bearers of debt, To those gone before us and who haven't come yet Arise, or the moment shall pass to redeem The toil of the nameless, their forfeited dream Arise, all ye prayerful, and unfold your hands And place your feet firm on the soil, on the land Turn your eyes upward and if you must weep, Ration your tears, for your savior's asleep Arise, all ye martyrs, from history's cave, The deep earthly scars that are your mass graves Drown out the broadcast of silence and fear Sing through our voices who followed you here (Chorus) Dry your eyes Arise! arise! Dry your eyes Arise! arise! Arise, all ye makers of profit and law, There is no second chance when your number gets called The ones who possess all the power you seek Hear in a language you no longer speak Arise, all ye soldiers, and turn your guns 'round Upon those who laugh as they order you down To stomp out the weak and to trample the small Arise and defend the most vulnerable Arise, all ye prisoners, from your concrete hell Dissolve, with one voice, the walls of your cells And when the warden cries, "how can this be?" Reply, "we are human and must act accordingly." (Chorus) Arise, tall sequoia, through suburban streets Take with you the vinyl, the asphalt, release The birds from their cages and the kids from their tombs Breathe out the plastic air from their rooms Arise, gentle traveler, the northern star wanes A landslide is uprooting map from terrain The cardinals lay writhing and flightless and caught The day is arriving for dangerous thought And arise, ye young poets, from irony's chains From sarcasm's prison to transcendent claims Arise and recall with what clearness you wrote Before you grew faded, before you grew cold (Chorus) 2x

There's outlaws gathering at the crossroads And they're laying all their booty on the ground And crab grass is breaking through the sidewalk And the first rays of morning are coming 'round Tall Riley busted up his peanuts And shelled them out to all his enemies Then he swan-dived into the East River And breast-stroked on out to sea Chorus: I'm finally willing and able I'm ready to roll, can't you see? Oh, Great Crap Shooter, Won't you lay a bet on me? Margaret told Sweet William "I ain't fond of roses anymore "Them briars are crowding up your tombstone "And the aroma just don't live up to the lore" The moonshiner sat down with his demons That already took his father and his son And you never heard the likes of what he told them He said, "Kiss me one last time and then be gone" (Chorus) Now I don't know much about bridges But when I see a good one, I surely take a stroll Cause there's no other way to keep my boots from soaking And I'd gladly make a change and pay the toll I'm plum tired of trouble And I'm all done with running away And if I hear one more lonesome cowboy song I'll build a chapel and there forever stay (Chorus)

Well, a fire is spreading in the land where I live And I'm looking inside to see what I can give I'm an Island sometimes but I got my dear words So I'll cast you a bottle and see if I'm heard Hey, hey, Joanie Baez, I wrote you a song It's humble and small but in my heart it plays long It's here should I ever be run down by fate Should I ever be bound to the things I create There's no way I can say whether I'll follow you But I'll march right beside you if you just ask me to It's a wise man who humbles himself to the past And it's surely too early to say "free at last" Here's to Pete and Odetta and Old You-Know-Who And all those whose names just never came through And the stories they told that roll down from the hills That keep me from crying or make the tears spill Now I've seen some hard struggle but I'm still pretty young And there's so many more of those songs to be sung So I hope that you hear over my childish strumming Since you've been singing, I've been overcoming

Well, over Montcoal, there descends a black-gold cloud of mourning The explosion, they say, erupted with no kind of warning Now the hands are all a-fold that the Lord may spare the last four But it never will come, the miracle they's a-praying for It's heard that things ain't as bad as they were in the backwards years Ain't no need for a union no more, those are old fashioned fears "Naw, boys, be assured, you ain't alone down there The company's gentler now, it'll take better care But the cameras are hungry for a shot of some red, grieving face And tomorrow they'll pack up and leave for some other place For nothing sells quite like a image of pain and despair Worst in forty years, but at least it'll fill the dead air Oh, leave 'em in the ground Leave 'em in the ground Leave 'em in the ground Just leave 'em in the ground That's where they are now And that's where they've been kept anyhow Now, the blood from black veins lights up all the Emperor's towers So long, they've been gasping, choked by two forms of power While the children are told, be consoled, there's an investigation While fire burns deep in the earth as it does in Damnation 'Tis a stale old tale, what's happened in poor West Virginia Shut your eyes, point your finger, and you'll find the primary sinner In a flash, the blood's wiped away from the struggles they fought And I lay stunned at all the tears them wives have still got Now the steam shovel pounds for the bodies of twenty-nine men And they'll pull 'em out, just so they can bury them again The steam shovel pounds for the bodies of all twenty-nine But it seems like a joke, a cruel and obscene waste of time Just leave'em in the ground Leave 'em in the ground Leave 'em in the ground Leave 'em in the ground Leave it in the ground Just leave it in the ground Leave it in the ground Leave 'em in the ground It's fine, it's fine, it's fine For there's a line of young miners behind them Oh, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine For there's a line of young miners behind them

Wherever go the wretched, so go I Wherever go the beaten and despised Whose beds are made of rubble Who war has horrified Wherever go the wretched, so go I Wherever go the thirsty, so go I Wherever go the parched, unsatisfied Whose oases are barren Whose springs have all run dry Wherever go the thirsty, so go I Wherever go the stricken, so go I Those wounded in the flesh or in the mind Where illness is the order And death is always nigh Wherever go the stricken, so go I Wherever go the rootless, so go I The refugee and wandering exile Wherever legs are weary From endless dreadful miles Wherever go the rootless, so go I Wherever go the shackled, so go I Be they within the dungeon or outside Where cruelty is rewarded And justice deemed a crime Wherever go the shackled, so go I Wherever go the naked, so go I The cold and unprotected and defiled Where openness is shameful And truth, undiginified Wherever go the naked, so go I Wherever I shall go, let there be light Let there be those whose dreams are made of fire Whose wings are all enfolding Whose visions pierce the night Wherever go such angels, so go I

There's certain truths that I'd have just as soon denied And certain dreams I just as soon do set aside Certain days that I'd just as soon've died When even dying didn't mean nothing Leave it to the wolves to show the path upon this place Where I followed him up to the grassy ridge to graze And little could I see for as far as I could gaze How I've longed for the eyes of painters I heard the shepherd when the shepherd told his wife My darling I have wished to lead a quiet life But I am the son of father time and mother strife And I have known no parent other In the barn out at the east end of the grange Peer through the boards and you will find a poet change Into a beast of cloven foot and dance deranged Will you kill or flee or join him? There's certain truths that I'd have just as soon denied And certain dreams I just as soon do set aside Certain days when I'd just as soon've died When even dying didn't mean nothing.

I was waking from a slumber, I'd been sleeping like the dead I had stars inside my vision and a pounding in my head I was hungry, I was aching, and my brain was full of fuzz But worst of all I just could not remember who I was I rubbed my eyes and wondered how it was I came to sleep On a rock-hard, dusty mattress in the middle of the street. I believe I caught amnesia, but the details slip my mind There must have been some warfare or some mayhem of some kind I laid out on the asphalt, trying to recollect But all that I could picture was this mean old architect And I heard the horns a-blaring, I heard the sirens scream Folks were yelling, "Get a move on! Can't you see the light is green!?" I struggled for my bearings and to catch a breath or two The road sign up above me said "Battleground Avenue" I stared at it and scratched my head when I seen this passing man I said "Sir, could you please help me to remember where I am?" He just laughed and shook his head, said "Son, just look around "There's a Battleground in every American town" I was needing help real bad and so I found a shopping strip Some kids were out there smoking, talking shop and looking hip I asked to bum a cigarette, and all of them refused They said "we don't tolerate no leeches, man, ain't you heard the news? I said, "well then where can I catch a bus? I've got to roam!" They said "We been here since the cows left and they ain't ever coming home." The voice inside my belly told me first things must be first So I scrambled for some sustenance before things could get much worse I hopped into a cafe, crazy neon sign aglow Said "open 24 hrs, but not all in a row" The waitress said "we're closing, all I got to serve you, hon, "Is a bowl of roof tar gumbo and a side of Orwell's tongue I went outside to vomit in between the yellow lines but I was rudely interrupted by this posted self-help sign Said "Did you wake this morning in a storm of mystery? "If so, come on in, have a talk with the Doc of history" By the time I found the Address, I was bordering on tears And I sat inside that waiting room for 15,000 years The Doctor showed me diagrams and said, "As you can see "History is a disease that afflicts the memory" He asked me for my birthday, I told him 1984 He said, "Well there's your problem, it's in the stars, there is no cure" And as the session ended, I was filled with grief and shame And the Doc said "Lets get started now, first tell me, what's your name?" I ran out of that man's office about as fast as I could Outside, bushes were burning, but they didn't talk too good I was dying for some rest, I couldn't take the pace no more So the next place I stepped into was a stationary store The manager said "take what you like, there's nothing to be bought" So i snatched a pen and diary to record my fleeting thoughts I think that it was working, stringing verbs along with nouns I was starting to recover, I was starting to calm down Bit by bit, I was piecing things together When this cop come charging at me, though I didn't know no better He said I seen you with that lightbulb and I seen you with that pen And I'm booking you for vagrancy, your mind's a-wanderin'! He took me to the jailhouse where he dragged me by my sleeves There were murderers and miscreants and arsonists and thieves But sitting in the corner, all peaceful and serene I saw this person and all the dirt beneath their fingernails were clean And I approached them and asked "Hey what ya in for, what ya done?" And they said , "I'm a political prisoner but it don't bother me none" They said "I found the secret to plugging up all these black holes "To making a little meaning without too much rigmarole "You must become a gardener, it's just better for your health "You got to find some place where you can leave part of yourself "You can't hold onto memories, no matter how you toil "So set 'em free and let 'em grow and plant them in the soil." I said "We gotta bust you out and spread your message wide! "The end times are a-comin', there's hysteria outside!" They said, "No, I'd better stay here. I know it to be true, "That in the morning they'll drag another cat in here just like you. "But you better get a-goin', and see what it's all about "And no need to break a thing, I got the key, just walk straight out" So I guess I'll be sticking round this here battleground land And build a little space that's worth giving a damn Though the architect is still threatening to undo all I've done I'm sure I'd find the same thing if I were to run And I know it might sound strange but it helps to think this way That there's probably a tomorrow, but there ain't no yesterday

One morning as I was waking Somewhere in this sorrowful land My legs, they felt like porcelain And I rinsed my bleeding hands The mirror asked me questions But I hadn't much to say My dreams been buried in the night They ain't worth much today For a while now I've been wandering No place to call my home But once I had some money And a house my very own But a banker shook his head at me Said "You may as well walk away," He said, "I seen you got your papers "But they ain't worth much today" I had the finest paramour With a girl who was wise and strong I told her I'd always love her And keep her well and warm She said "Keep your promise to yourself "And let be whatever may "Everywhere I hear assurances, "But they ain't worth much today" My hourglass is broken Crushed up in some machine I mourn my dying minutes For they don't belong to me I asked the boss man, "Please dear sir "Won't you give a bit more pay?" He said "The line behind you is nine miles long, "Boy, you ain't worth much today." On the podium, the well-dressed men, Tin bells of freedom ring I pray I ain't the only one Sees their limbs are tied to strings And the other end pulled by the ones who own And who spin the lies they say, In my pocket there is a voter's card But it ain't worth much today Heard tell from over the ocean Of a saint, what was his name? In the last recourse of peaceful me He set himself aflame 'Neath the power and steel that rule this world Does a rebel still remain My prayers go to the pit with him But they ain't worth much today I do not blame the lord above for this piling mound of needs But each day my mouth goes watering And I lean toward evil deeds I went to the monseigneur To confess I'd gone astray So I have my faith and my clean soul But are they worth much today? In June, I wed my sweetheart By her mother's thirsty well And soon a child was born to us Her name, Hope Annabelle Now like flowers, I gather parables And the songs from better days And nightly pass them on to her They're all that's worth much today.

Praised be the ragtime band Praised be the rambler's thumb Praised be the mislaid plans Praised be the flood if it comes Praised be the fat and lye Praised be the worn-out chair Praised be the wheat and rye Praised be the spiral stair Praised be the fallow hill Praised be the loner's sigh Praised be the drunkard's will Praised be the laugh lines Praised be the flaunted wound Praised be the letter sent Praised be the next new moon Praised be the dove's lament They asked the poet once, Do you believe in miracles? And he did reply with this That's all there is. Praised be the ragtime band Praised be our mislaid plans My eyes are dry and they are open I keep my grief in my hands Praised be the ragtime band Praised be the ramblers thumb Praised be the mislaid plans Praised be the flood if it comes Praised be the flood if it comes Praised be the flood if it comes Praised be the flood if it comes Praised be the ragtime band Praised be the mislaid plans My eyes are dry and they are open I keep my grief in my hands I keep my grief in my hands I keep my grief in my hands I keep my grief in my hands Praised be the ragtime band Praised be the ragtime band Praised be the ragtime band Praised be the ragtime band