The Devil You Know

From the man himself...

the devil you know
tsnider

helicopters over the house again
we got the projects two or three blocks from here
they pull the kids over for driving while african
and the ones with the warrants always run in fear
so i sit here waiting for the coast to clear
wishing once again i had a gun around here
turn on the news and what do i hear
some kid shot the bank up on gallatin road
ran away from the cops while he was trying to reload
he beat them up to eastland street on feet
now he's probably reloaded and running down my street
better turn the alarm on and lock myself in
helicopters over the house again

sometimes you rise above it
sometimes you sneak below
somewhere in between believing in heaven
and facing the devil you know

poor kid probably never had a chance to give a fuck,
wouldn't know good luck from a debutant
he's gotta find a way to be steve mcnair or young buck
or he's just tough luck looking for a prison to haunt
and you can fuck, getting any kind of job you want
unless you really want to work in a fast food restaraunt
and who wants to do that? do you want to do that?
i wouldn't trade that for my crooked hat
or my gang or my gun or my waist full of pagers
for a job deep frying shit, for richer teen agers
if that's where it's at and no one's gonna help
how you gonna blame a man for helping himself
there's a war going on that the poor can't win
helicopters over the house again

sometimes you rise above it
sometimes you sneak below
somewhere in between believing in heaven
and facing the devil you know

womack.rocks.....

black and white cops shining lights in the bushes
can't see how this kid is gonna get very far
unless he finds a way to make it back over to barry street
and he can't do that unless he steals a car
man the way things are they just don't seem right
all the white people talking 'bout the hope and the light
there ain't no hope in sam levy just guns and drugs
we ain't building bridges we're just training thugs
then i hear a terrifying kick at my back door
and in comes this kid i say hey i've seen this kid before
i see him all the time at that bar on woodland street
now he's bleeding in my kitchen tracking mud off his feet
and he's looking at me like i'll either help him or die
until he sees in my eyes that i'm on his side
i hand him my keys i say you better move fast
there's a J in the ashtray and plenty of gas
he throws me the cash and says i'll be back for this
i say yeah well don't be surprised if theres' a little bit of it missing
his gold teeth glistened with a big old grin
he said we'll talk about that when i see you again
he shook my hand i shook his back
i felt like i was about to have a heart attack
until he finally drove away i thought "gaaaawd damn!??!"
helicopters over the house again

sometimes you rise above it
sometimes you sneak below
somewhere in between believing in heaven
and facing the devil you know

you're facing the devil you know?
Transcribing lyrics is hard and I don't recommend it unless you're trying to figure out the lyrics to a song that no one else has gone to the trouble of deciphering, but you simply MUST have the lyrics so that you can sleep at night. And trust me-that song needs deciphered at times. There's a good three lines I totally can't even come up with a theory on what he's saying. Anyway, that's the gist.

As for why it was bothering me-other than how awful much ass the song kicks. I love how so many shitheads talk about OKOM but then the spokesman puts out an album that just rocks-not like rocks like House rocks, but balls to the wall barroom rock'n'roll full of guitar solos and sing along drive along choruses.
Not that I'm biased.

There were helicopters over the house today. Usually they fly over at night, so I can pretend to ignore them. I remember when the murder happened, just 3 blocks from here, Baxter whined at the window while the cops drove by and the helicopters flew over. Even with the TV on I could tell something big was going on. I told him, we'd probably be okay. What could I say?

But today, I was just barely home from work at 4 out walking the Coupland when the chopper flew so close that I could practically see the pilot's facial expression from my position in the yard. I wanted to go back in the house but Little Man wouldn't be deterred, and we had to keep walking. Hell, in our half hour walk we only saw 3 cruisers. That's normal.

No, it isn't.

There was something goin' down on Scott when I drove the other way on the way home but it didn't seem like much. 'Course, it's summer in the 'hood. I'm used to this kind of shit and refuse to let it intimidate me. But I lock the house when I walk the dog and I keep the place pretty welled sealed up as much as I can. Rather pay the A/C bill than have someone pounding on my window.

Call me crazy.

When I was talking to Mum yesterday I told her I was going to spend three days in NYC. She said, "New York? All by yourself?"
Mik can wander about the country without calling home, but if I go to New York for holiday it's worthy a question. But then, Sis would call home if there was trouble, I'd try to muddle through it alone. I'm a headstrong beeyatch that way.
Sure it's exponentially bigger than Nashville could ever be, but it's a city. I've been to Chicago and Pittsburgh and Detroit, Cleveland and Columbus and Cincinnatti, Louisville, Atlanta, Phoenix, Memphis, New Orleans, Boston, Dublin, Killarney and Times Square at Christmas time. Probably others I'm forgetting. What haven't I experienced? Stop laughing. I know that's a silly question.

On my way home from work today I saw two license plates:
CUNHVN
and
ALL4HM
I ran thru my 10 commandments. Isn't that kind of ego breaking a commandment? False witness or idolatry or something? One of those less popular commandments. Either way-I think these people need stoned.

In more ways than one.

I did dig the dude with the "NIN" "BNL" and other acronymic band name bumper stickers with a sign in the back window (and yes, I saw this today, I was beginning to think the rapture was going to take place on the Jefferson St Bridge--at least if it had I would've had smooth sailing the rest of the way home) the sign said "JESUS!"

Guess the driver must've had a good seat at the reunion tour.