Pigs and Clover

I’m Wrong Every Day

(Matt Kearney)

My baby and me don't got the money to flee to New Zealand

Just have to stick around and stick it out

Hope for the best but I sure got a terrible feeling

And I hope you never even have to know

What I’m talking about

That old crystal ball's been giving me nightmares

It’s not hard to see what’s down the road

When they write it on signs

And I’m wrong every day

I hope and I pray this is one of those times

One of those times

One of those times I’m wrong

Way out of line

Badly mistaken or just plain out of my mind

I’m wrong every day

I hope and I pray this is one of those times

One of those times

That old crystal ball's been giving me nightmares

It’s not hard to see what’s down the road

When they write it on signs

But I’m wrong every day

I hope and I pray this is one of those times

One of those times

If You're Not Helping Don't

(Matt Kearney)

Chorus:

If you’re not helping don’t

And the way you’re helping’s not

Actually it makes it worse

Appreciate the thought

It’s so kind you want to help me

But I kinda wish you won’t

If you’re not helping don’t

I was digging myself a hole

Carrying a big old bucket of sand

Bending over sideways from the weight on my one hand

My friend said let me help you

Keep your back from harm

To pull me back upright

He pulled down on the other arm

And I’m trying to be grateful

For all the love I’m shown

There’s times I’d rather do things on my own

(Chorus)

And I’m trying to be grateful

For all the love I’m shown

There’s times I’d rather do things on my own

Like when I need to get some items

From the big box discount store

Got my things and I’m walking out the door

Please wait to be helped says the friendly robot voice

You’ve set off an anti-theft device

And I’m trying to be grateful

Technology is talking

I think right now I’ll just keep walking

(Chorus)

Where Were You

(Jamie Kearney)

Where were you the day it happened

Rearranged the world

Were you standing in line at the grocery store

Or lying on the floor

Did you jump in the car and call your lover

On the way home

Did you search inside your mind for answers

Or leave it alone

Chorus: 

Where were you, where were you

Where were you that day

Where were you, where were you

Does it matter anyway

Were you tooling around on the ocean floor

Were you making a mess

Were you joking around like an awful boor

Did you finally confess

Did you pack your bags and hit the highway

Traveling north

Did you make a vow to quit the cosplay

And be what you’re worth

(Chorus)

And let’s not forget about

Freedom sweet freedom

And let’s not forget

The times we took it for granted

We took it for granted

(Chorus)

Cheap Guitars

(Matt Kearney)

I had a Hondo

Patched it up with J-B Weld and Bondo

Picking it I was kicking it like Taekwondo

Played alright sounded alright

Wound up picking it every night

I had a Goodwill

Played it when I walked and when I stood still

A bad guitar but it sure was a good deal

Cracks and dents and a sticker that went

Sixteen dollars and thirty-eight cents

Chorus:

It's not the price tag or the name

It's the feeling that’s the game

It's how Lucinda takes three chords and makes me cry

I want to right all of the wrong

I want to write a perfect song

Never do it doesn't mean you shouldn't try

I had a Peavey

Bought it from my buddy Dave

But we'll call him Stevie

Hard guitar to rhyme I do believe-y

Eventually it occurs to me

Might have to bend a rule or three

(Chorus)

I had a Squier

Traded in a little amp and an old used tire

Bending those strings lights me all on fire

Plays real nice sounds real nice

A fine guitar at any price

(Chorus)

Two Payments Left On My Last Heart Attack

(Matt Kearney)

Had a little heart attack a little while back

Now I think I'm having number two

So I'm here in the car heading to the ER like you do

Gotta fix it but I don't know how

Only living like my heart will allow

All I really know is I don't need this shit right now

Chorus:

I just got two payments left on my last heart attack

Then I can fly away just not today

Gotta finish what you start

Got a pain in my heart

Keep trying to keep it together

But it keeps on coming apart

Had a little time to think

A little time with the shrink

About what I'm supposed to do

With the bills and the pills and the world and its ills

And still not a clue

Gotta fix it but I don't know how

Only living like my heart will allow

All I really know is I don't need this shit right now

(Chorus)

Be With Me

(Jamie Kearney)

Will I be an old woman before you see me again

At the rate we’re going my dear friend

I’d like to ask you in to take a cup of tea

Oh darlin won’t you be with me

Oh darlin won’t you be with me

We make our share of heartache

With specious argument

Driven by pride not confidence

I offered an apology

You accepted three

Oh darlin won’t you be with me

Oh darlin won’t you be with me

Me me me

Imma sit here on the porch

Watching all the hummingbirds

Fly back and forth

Stop to check me out

I got clout

I make whisper I make shout

And I can’t take your pain away

But I can feel you

I can deal with you

Will I be an old woman before you see me again

At the rate we’re going my dear friend

I’d like to ask you in to sing a melody

Oh darlin won’t you be with me

Oh darlin won’t you be with me

Me me me

Upside Down

(Eric Madison)
Chorus:

This whole world’s upside down

I can’t stay silent anymore

This whole world’s upside down

I just can’t stay silent anymore

These politicians

They really don’t give a damn

All they care about is protecting their money

Horrible, cruel–definitely not funny

(Chorus)

So I went to the doctor the other day

They say you gotta go in quick when something’s happening

You know they have a better chance of curing it

My doctor definitely agreed

“We gotta get you in as soon as possible

As soon as I check with the insurance company”

I guess I should have called them first

(Chorus)

We get our kids up in the morning

Send them off to school

Teach them how to get along

Well, you better kiss them goodbye

Cause on the evening news

We will see their parents cry

I Do Prattle On

(Matt Kearney)

Well...I used to know a guy with a three legged dog

Don’t remember the name lost in the fog

He had the hottest girlfriend around

But he was kind of an asshole

In the journal of Nature I read that’s a thing

With these asshole folks and the mates and the bling

And they end up all broke and alone

When they get older

Anyway this guy fell out of a tree

He got all messed up messed up as can be

We liked to party in the branches really don’t know why

Young and drunk and dumb probably thought we could fly

Cool and clear as far as we could see

Suddenly it occurs to me

Chorus:

I do prattle on

About not much at all

Stories and memories

I can barely recall

Maybe you don’t want to hear it

Maybe you do

Sometimes I like talking

I like talking to you

Reminds me of the time I went out to sing

With the band at some biker gig in a rodeo ring

And some guy named Bad Bob

Laid another man low

Paramedics and police came

Interrupted the show

But this one dude kept dancing

Dancing like everyone’s watching

He was soaking wet with sweat and drink and drool

And his shirt said beer drinking pussy eating fool

He started fucking with the cops

So they cuffed him to a rail

Paramedics finished up and got ready to bail

Cops went for the fool but the fool wasn’t there

Just the open handcuffs hanging in the air

Seems like somebody had a handcuff key

Suddenly it occurs to me

(Chorus)

Not Sweating The Small Stuff

(Matt Kearney)

Dictators and despots

Taking over the world

And the climate’s collapsing

On me and my girl

And there’s plague and poison

Seems like the end is in sight

So I’m not sweating the small stuff

I love you

It’s alright

Chorus: 

I’m not sweating the small stuff

These days are flying by

And the last thing my mom and dad taught me

Is just how soon we die

And the last thing I want to do with you is fight

I’m not sweating the small stuff

I love you

It’s alright

(Chorus)

Bad Lazy Habit

(Matt Kearney)

It's hard to listen when I'm flapping my lips in the breeze

Shutting my mouth seems to extra my sensories

I can feel the love, I can feel the hate

I can feel the energies change

I don't believe in power and I don't believe in sin

Just doing what you're told is a bad lazy habit to get in

Trying to pay attention, hope to get there eventually

Stilling the mind, as easy and as hard as can be

I can feel the weakness, I can feel the strength

I can feel the balances shift

I shouldn't have to tell you much less tell you again

Just doing what you're told is a bad lazy habit to get in

Neither master nor slave neither coward nor brave neither wasted nor saved

Neither psycho nor sane neither wild nor tame either way it's the same

It's hard to see with the bells and whistles shining so brightly

Shutting my eyes lets me see the harmony

I can feel the future, I can feel the past

I can feel them meeting right now

One planet with one people, watch the spin

Just doing what you're told is a bad lazy habit to get in

One planet with one people, kindness to all kin

Just doing what you're told is a bad lazy habit to get in

High Fructose

(Matt Kearney, Jamie Kearney)

You flash a high fructose corn syrup smile

I’m a wily poet and a drinker

You sit and wonder why I walk a crooked mile

La La La, La La La

Looking out for FD&C Yellow No. 1

You left Fox News on for the children

Live by the bible and swear by the gun

La La La, La La La

"Hell Was Made for Deadbeat Moms", your sign says

What the hell does that mean?

In your noble cause I see Santa Claus

Bringing lumps of coal and gasoline

You wear that hamburger helper disguise

I’m a wily poet and a thinker

Don’t sit there soaking up the company lies

La La La, La La La

Somebody's Crazy

(Matt Kearney)

Blowing up whole mountains for the coal that's in the ground

Go back to building nuke plants right when 3 are melting down

Engineer the food so I don't even want it

Modify the genes so they can spray more poison on it

I look around and as far as I can see

Somebody's crazy and it's not me

Got to love those cars since their prophets stopped the trains

Now petroleum's the juice they've got us slamming in our veins

We'll do anything to get it like some oil craving junkie

Takes four thousand pounds of car to move two hundred pounds of monkey

I look around and as far as I can see

Somebody's crazy and it's not me

Stockpiling warheads enough to blow us all to hell

They're weaponizing anthrax and they weaponize it well

Missiles in the silos ready in one second flat

Splice ebola genes on smallpox, Jesus -  whose idea was that?!

I look around and as far as I can see

Somebody's crazy and it's not me

Labels

(Jamie Kearney)

I’m only a theoretical drug offender

But I’m about to go off on another bender

I don’t belong

What I need is a good back scratching

Or maybe a little positive thinking

I’m only a theoretical underachiever

But I’m about to go off on another teaser

I can’t be wrong

What I need is someone good and strong to guide me through

when the raid goes down in a college town

Cover my back, cover my back

Emotional I.Q. it’s all right this time around

I’ll be recovering, I’ll be recovering

All that’s been taken, taken from me

I’ll be recovering, I’ll be recovering

Mean Wind

(Matt Kearney)

People rounded up in Postville for their race and where they're from

Like cattle at the fairgrounds till the deportation comes

They're trying to bust the unions from Keokuk to Madison

Iowa, Ohio, Idaho and Michigan

The mean wind howling down on Main Street

Is the blast from when the rich folks slammed the door

The people are rising and we're pissed off

We're not gonna take it anymore

Black man in Cedar Rapids he got 20 years for real

For stealing fifteen dollars that he didn't even steal

Wall Street steals trillions numbers I can't understand

They'll never see a day in any prison in this land

They steal health care from sick people they steal housing form the poor

They steal pensions from the old folks and they spend it on their war

I'm real slow to anger, I get that from my Dad

But it's been a long time coming and I am really fucking mad

Beg Borrow or Steal

(Jamie Kearney)

I won’t beg borrow or steal

Please don’t cast your shadow on my freedom

I’ll take a pass on religion

and give myself to you cause you’re real

I won’t beg borrow or steal

You’re not some notorious self-possessed genius

Who can’t carry a tune while he scorns the band

And I was half crazy homeless

Two left feet in love, one helpless hand

Girl from the Island of Misfit Toys

(Matt Kearney)

She doesn't like to watch TV, she says it makes it hard to see

Reads "Overthrow" and "Answer Me" and "Little House on the Prairie"

She listens to the ancient things, Chaka Khan and Bach and Wings

But when she hears Al Green she sings a little flat and oh so pretty

And the basket on her bicycle is full of real good things to eat

And she wears a wristwatch on her foot 'cause her hands already feel complete

She wonders if there's some boy somewhere

Writing her a love song on his porch swing

She says: "Don't be silly, stupid"

I know she's out there somewhere wading through a sea of fit boys

She's a girl from the island of misfit toys

She's got a cat named Al Capone and they both like to be alone

Right now they're probably at home watching birds fly through the window

She makes herself a pecan pie she'll eat it later when she’s high

She sees the others passing by and wonders who is crazy

Waiting for the Crest

(Jamie Kearney)

I guess it’s time to say good-bye to all fair weather friends

Since we woke up to the sound of the water creeping in

Seeping in without a care, breaking down our little nest

That we built with peace and love, now we’re waiting for the crest

Waiting for the Crest

And all over the world there are people suffering more

and our little disaster can’t compare to the endless war

That our government is waging against the people of Iraq

Against the people of Afghanistan, the troops ain’t coming back

They never want to bring them back

We’ve got to push them and pressure them to bring them back

Be like water

I guess it’s time to say hello to all the people we still don’t know

As we pass them on the street I hear the water rushing near my feet

And if there’s ever been a time to see beyond one selfish mind

Feel beyond one selfish heart, now’s the time to start

We’ve got to push them and pressure them to make a start

Be like water

There's Nothing New about Fucking the Poor

(Matt Kearney)

This one is a neo-liberal that one is a neo-con

They both love those corporations now all my money's gone

I always thought neo meant something new but I've been wrong before

My Latin's just a little bit rusty friend, does neo mean fucking the poor?

There's nothing new about fucking the poor

There's nothing new about fucking the poor

Neo this, neo that, I smell the same old rat

This one is a neo-colonial working for the World Bank

Open up your markets or he's sending in the tanks

You'll be paying Bechtel for your water, Monsanto for your food

If he doesn't like who you elected, they're getting their ass couped

And it's neo geo me-o my-o stolen elections in Ohio

Doesn't really matter it's the choices that make me cry-o

Whichever pro-war corporate whore millionaire you want to vote for

One thing's for sure, they'll be fucking the poor

Look there goes a neo-nazi with his pointy little head

6 billion people, he wants most of 'em dead

He doesn't have a pot to piss in, his job was first to go

Rich white men fucked him, he blames Mexico

4-17-09 (The Business of Killing)

(Jamie Kearney)

She’s been practicing for about 5 years

She’s tall and pretty and she wears high heels

She has student loan debt but she always works hard

For the hot tub and swimming pool in the back yard

She goes to the tanning bed and she goes to the mall

She wants the best for her daughter and she hopes she’ll be tall

She doesn’t care about politics, the crooks are all the same

She sets her sights on fortune, she’s smitten more by fame

And the business of killing goes on

I wonder if she knows that on April 17 they released

The torture memos

John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and Steve Bradbury

3 cowboy counselors on a criminal torture spree

Now Bybee’s a judge who still sits on the bench

How can anyone with half a brain still sit on the fence?

And the business of killing goes on

I wonder if she knows just how bad things can get inside Guantanamo

He’s been practicing for 30 odd years

He revels in the luxuries and he lives for the beers

He wants the best for his family but the company wants more

He never takes a case pro bono, no time for the poor

And the business of killing goes on

I wonder if he knows that on April 17 they released

The torture memos

Rocket Surgeon

(Matt Kearney)

People with way more than they need

invest it and get more and more exponentially

People who don't have what they need

borrow and get poor and poorer exponentially

How it all connects it's as simple as E to the X

The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer

And we all just get jerked along

It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out that's wrong

Everybody knows you don't get something for nothing

Profit comes from labor that's the hitch

If anybody's getting a paycheck for not working

It ought to be people who aren't already rich

People with way more than they need

Buy some politicians rig the laws and feed the greed

People who don't have what they need work and slave and fall behind

Use credit cards to eat

The robber barons live, their machines combobulate the derivatives

The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer

While we all drink from just one cup

It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see that that's fucked up

What Would Alexander Berkman Do

(Jamie Kearney)

Push-up bras and protocols

Deep mud spas and Barbie dolls

Billiard halls filled with friends

The bowling alley a means to an end

Will the markets crash before the ice caps melt

A bird flu pandemic 

Your Dad with a belt

Philanthropy and philosophy

Your daily prescription of hypocrisy

I ask myself, what would Alexander Berkman do?

In this new gilded age

Can’t be a hero in a prisoner’s cage

On a virtual page

Derision and rage

You like to dance to that same old music

How can you like it

You couldn’t see through it

Anatomy or analogy

Your daily prescription of hypocrisy

I ask myself, what would Alexander Berkman do?

Rules

(Matt Kearney)

No cigarette smoking here. Rules, Rules

Can't get married if you're queer. Rules, Rules, Rules

Not supposed to rob and murder. Don't chew gum in the hall.

Somebody wrote some rules down and hung them on the wall.

Good folks they don't need them bad folks pay no mind at all.

There's right, there's wrong and then there's rules.

Don't do this and don't do that and do do this and do do that.

Face it folks the rules are arbitrary. Makes you wonder if they're necessary.

You don't have to be a visionary to see that we can rule ourselves.

Must be 21 to drink. Rules, Rules.

“Thou shalt not kill”.....you think? Rules, Rules, Rules

Can't turn right on red here. Don't commit that genocide.

There's rules against it buddy, you'd better abide.

Good folks just do good things bad folks never even tried.

There's right, there's wrong and then there's rules.

Don't do this and don't do that and do do this and do do that.

Rules are just the power that's behind them.

Big monkey with stick say you must mind them.

But all the little monkeys can unbind themselves and sticks grow on trees.

Can't give hungry people food. Rules, Rules

Everything banks do is good! Rules, Rules, Rules

Can't smoke marijuana. Don't put poison in the stew.

Somebody wrote some rules down. Somebody isn't you.

Good folks just do good things bad folks tell them not to do.

There's right, there's wrong and then there's rules.

New World Orderly

(Matt Kearney)

I spend my days in the New World Orderly workspace

Everywhere is cameras on me

I have been retrofitted with a tracking device so they can see where I might be

Who it might be that see where I might be I don't know

The folks who run this place are crazy, mean and out of control

They try to cover it up with this fake-ass Disney John Wayne Gacy clown face

I'm telling you this place will drive you crazy

I don't mind working I mind tyranny

I mind people thinking they’re lord over me

They're making it a struggle to be free

I spend my days trying to think of ways I can beat this

Everywhere is invisible chains

Debts, taxes, wages, electric spies and lies my blinders my bit, my reins

That somebody slyly steering me sounds an alarm

Arrogant obtuse and mean as hell I mean them harm

They're trying to dress the whole world

in their corporate gangster mono-culture outfit

I'm telling you this shit will drive you crazy

Sorry I Treated You Bad

(Jamie Kearney)

Silver maples and cottonwoods

Here by the river life is so good

Has it been twenty years since I first made you mad

I'm sorry I treated you bad

I'd walk to work with tears in my eyes

Met you on the rebound

then I cheated and lied

I took you for granted like a mom or a dad

I'm sorry I treated you bad

Nothing makes me more sad

than to know we just can't be friends

You've got your pride, I've got my baby

You're in that scene, why was I so mean?

Back in those days I was so dumb

I played silly games and I selfishly won

But I'm looking for Peace despite all that I've done

I'm sorry I treated you bad

I Don't Wanna Be a Wanna Be

(Matt Kearney)

I don't wanna be a soldier, I don't wanna be a biker

I don't wanna be a cop or a troubadour hitchhiker

I don't wanna be a Jesse James, don't wanna be John Wesley Hardin

I just wanna live in peace, I just wanna tend the garden

I don't wanna be a wanna be, I don't wanna be a wanna be

I don't wanna be a wanna be, I just wanna be me

I don't wanna be a gangster, I don't wanna be a saint

I don't wanna be a country boy, talk like something that I ain't

I don't wanna be all Hollywood, little poser with my poses

I just wanna live in peace, I just wanna tend the roses

I don't wanna be a wanna be, I don't wanna be a wanna be

I don't wanna be a wanna be, I just wanna be me

Lemmings Can't Swim

(Matt Kearney)

Hey there my friend

Can you tell me where we're going?

Why is everybody running? 

You say we're running into the ocean

Well I guess that's ok, but you see my mind's all doubts and questions

I'm not trying to be a wise ass

I just think someone ought to mention

Lemmings can't swim

Lemmings can't swim

When we try, we generally drown

Lemmings can't swim

Lemmings can't swim

I'm not trying to rock the boat here but lemmings can't swim

This ocean thing then

Tell me whose idea was this

Is anyone in charge here? 

Don't you think we should discuss it?

Now where'd I get what

My swimming shorts Salvation Army

You feel good about your Speedos

Excuse me friend but are you crazy?

All There Is

(Matt Kearney)

If I could go anywhere in this whole world

Do anything I want, no matter what it cost

I'd want a little cabin in the woods by the water

With a great big porch and to be there making music with my lover

Strings that sparkle shining smiling endless silver lining 

On the surface of the river on these guitars on their laps 

Sing a song that weaves with the wind and the leaves 

And the bird sounds reaching out to where the distant rumble of machinery 

is barely there at all

Just want to be right where we are 

Right above the center of the earth 

Nowhere to go, no time to get there 

Only here and now 

We can stay right where we are 

Right above the center of the earth 

The rumble has come there's nowhere to run 

So we fight like hell for this little spell 

All there is...is

If I could have anyone in this whole world 

Anyone I wanted, anyone at all 

I'd want a brave woman full of passion and conviction 

Who is beautiful and into making music with her lover