Blood & Rust

BLOOD & RUST written by Eddie Berman

The forces formed and the phalanx split
I bet you can still remember it
It’s nothing if not an astounding view
Of those rebel troops surrounding you
You look at me like I ought to know
In our bedroom dug like a fresh foxhole
Then you hand me my survival kit
Just a blindfold and a cigarette
You chose war
And I chose you
Ain’t it cruel
Your city-state will crack and split
And I’ll made my home right under it
It’s the ones you love that lay siege to you
But I can’t be blamed for the things they do
Like destiny you head out west
Where your general’s been laid to rest
On his gravestone you scrape back the dust
And read: those not covered in blood are covered in rust
You chose war
While I chose you
Ain’t it cruel
The forces formed and the phalanx split
I bet you can still remember it
Nothing if not an astounding view
Of those rebel troops surrounding you

HELP ME WHEN I SAY written by Eddie Berman

It’s a silver line of light across my eyelids
As the violence follows me down
The silver line helps me come to feeling
Revealing your peeling heart
I’ll hold my tongue cause I know this is the time when
I’m left standing abandoned in the rain
Help me when I say
Please don’t go away
Please don’t leave me here alone
Help me when I say
Please don’t go away
Please don’t leave me here alone
So far from home
Very few people know the sequence
Of the events that prevents our love
Yes it’s only you and I who know the reasons
For the treasonous way you put me down
Help me if you can I’m filling up on
All the ways you and the days you fool around
Help me when I say
Please don’t act this way
Please don’t cast me off your bones
Help me when I say
Please don’t go away
Please don’t cast me off your bones
So far from home
Help me when I say
Please don’t go away
Please don’t leave me here alone
Help me when I say
Please don’t go away
Please don’t leave me here alone
So far from home

RUBY written by Eddie Berman

Ruby reads the table
The way that she was taught
She knows everything that’s coming
And everything that’s not
I first seen her down in Long Beach
She was mobbed by movie stars
They fell on their hands and knees
And begged to see her scars
A world of worthless numbers
Are almost all that fill my head
But I can still remember
The first thing ruby said
For to recognize the feeling
Abandon all the meaning you have known
I will play Suzanne
And you will play her sinking stone
With Ruby’s thumb
The world unspun
And I was overcome
Seaweed filled the city
Children filled the sea
That’s the last I saw of Ruby
And Ruby saw of me
Ruby, meet me in the morning
Ruby, open up your door
Ruby, I never knew that I could be
So heart broke before
The words swam out like minnows
On cold currents through her window right to you
But nothing else would matter, as everyone was shattered
By the news
And now that I’m finally seeing
Things are exactly what they seem
Every single night
I have the same damn dream
Ruby comes in shaking
Waking all the neighbors from their sleep
Saying things have gone too far
And your promise has become too hard to keep
As Ruby spun
Beneath the midnight sun
I am overcome

THE BRICKLAYER’S SON written by Eddie Berman

Oh, this is what I’ve become
I am the bricklayer’s son
Born at the wrong time
Oh, the weight, it leads me astray
But I will not stand in your way
If you don’t stand in mine
My mind, it moved like mercury
Through the thin plasticine
Of your heart’s circuitry
Oh well, at least it did until
A whole damn mountain of pills
Buried me
But I won’t come back you see
Don’t take it so personally
It’s just when you look at me
I see it bright as the sun
My failures all at once
Now I live with a girl
At the edge of the world
She’s a bricklayer too
Oh, I loved her right from the start
When she ripped out my heart
She reminds me of you
But I won’t come back you see
Don’t take it so personally
It’s just when you look at me
I see it bright as the sun
My failures all at once
Oh, this is what I’ve become
I am the bricklayer’s son
But I’m not wasting my time
Oh, the weight, it leads me astray
But I will not stand in your way
If you don’t stand in mine

I KNOW I COULD written by Eddie Berman

If you would see me, I could turn right into stone
I’d dig for miles and make myself at home
I’ll pay the tolls, no matter what they cost
Burn each bridge the second we’re across
If you would let me, I could hide us in the sun
My bonnie gal, we’re Clydesdales on the run
And f they kill us, oh we will not be ashamed
But if they catch us, tell my family
I’ve been framed
I know I could
I know I could
I know I could
If you only would
The sawdust floor feels like clay beneath our feet
But it feels like bone when you’re down on your knees
If you would sing to me I think I could combust
And turn this whole damn town into dust
I know I could
I know I could
I know I could
If you only would
I might be taken then
But I will come back again
Again
When that dust storm finally settles down
And we’re only things left around ground
If you would see me then, I could turn right back to stone
We’ll start from the top, so you better make yourself at home
I know I could
I know I could
I know I could
If you only would
I might be taken then
But I will come back again
Again