Lifeboat Blues Cross-checking beliefs in a cathedral of factsa Library of Congress where I browse in the stacksthe smile on my plaster of Paris death mask cracksas I prepare for my imminent sea voyage.
I’ve got my childhood fables and my undergraduate classesmy rose-coloured specs and my dark sunglassesmy DNA lottery and a couple of family passes;Like my ancestors, I’ll be traveling steerage.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
So I finish my last supper, take a final coffee sipand go meet my brother Jonah, on the gangway to the ship.He’s got a Nineveh assignment, but he’s giving God the slipHe says that prophecy’s a job that’s futile.
On board strong signals echo back from the sonar of the pasttriggered by a Leviathan which blows with a ram horn blastand watched on screens by sailors whose bucks they’d rather pass;Relax: it’s just some nuclear theocratic missile.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
Anointed victims are the heroes, collective power costs a priceIn the Jawbone Chambers Goliath vetoes his existence rightSo Samson is pilloried at the Temple of Human RightsWhile the Walrus does selective weeping.
The hope that it will all work out is a pretty thin reedbut a basket in the bulrushes is all the boat we needthe vessel of our hope sets out on a wine dark Trojan seaand I'm with Yonah, below decks, sleeping.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
Yonah’s task-avoiding Nineveh, between Tel Aviv and Tyrewhile the perfect storm at sea drives the wind and water higher sailors worry about drowning, me and Yonah about firethat might rain down on his brown-eyed sons and daughters.
British jobs for British men, there's sulphur in the airand CO2 and UV rays and dirty underwearwith the whole world doing laundry in the naked public squareAnd the runoff through the wires we drink like water.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
I go to wake up Yonah, say its time to jump the shipto get swallowed by the whale, and have our magical mystery trip;But Yonah’s watching YouTube, and a pretty funny clipAbout our stowaways, who’ve come to watch the whaling:
There’s the self-hating narcissist, who can’t look in the mirror;And the vegan with the silver spoon who eats soydogs and beer;And the front car rollercoaster guy, who thinks he gets to steer;And the Captain, who has a fear of sailing;
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
The storm is growing worse, sailors fearing for their livesthe Captain says draw lots, to choose the Ship of Fools’ fall guyIt all comes down to numbers, and the vote comes to a tie;Then the Chair of Blaming tables a new motion.
The sister of the PM's wife takes the fundamentalists’ sideand the Light sheep among nations is darkly vilified;the ship risks being stranded by history’s riptideso me and Yonah walk the plank into the ocean.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
We’re swallowed by the whale; grief counselors say: it’s not that bad;in the belly of the beast we meet Pinocchio’s mortal DadThen Yonah’s special pleadings get us spit out near Baghdad;Yonah goes on off to deliver up his warning.
Some time later I meet Yonah, in the shadow of a Gourdat least Nineveh was spared, seems Yonah’s warnings struck a chord But now Yonah’s really ticked off, his ox it was gored‘cuz since the bad things didn’t happen (yet), there’s scorning.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
My sleep these nights are troubled, and freighted with dreamsNot every seaborne cargo is as solid as it seemsand the paperless office has generated reamsof emails, novels, images and soundbites.
Serpent of anxiety wraps its body round my Treeand hissing like an air leak, gives out advice for free;the Snake bites my Achilles heel, I’m foundering at Sea;Then I wake, and hear the morning newsbites.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
I syncopate anxieties, I harmonize my fearswith a fish eye view of history that my third eye hearsnavigate my way between Eve and Britney SpearsFace a toppled temple in the heart of the global village.
We didn't steal fire, our God gave it as a gift;we got kicked out of Eden, but then He offered us a liftwith Light from Sparks from Flint Stones and a three-score ten-year shiftbedecked with fig leaves from the Tree of Knowledge.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
I’ve got my childhood fables and my undergraduate classesmy rose-coloured specs and my dark sunglassesmy DNA lottery and a couple of family passes;Like my ancestors, I’ll be traveling steerage.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
So I finish my last supper, take a final coffee sipand go meet my brother Jonah, on the gangway to the ship.He’s got a Nineveh assignment, but he’s giving God the slipHe says that prophecy’s a job that’s futile.
On board strong signals echo back from the sonar of the pasttriggered by a Leviathan which blows with a ram horn blastand watched on screens by sailors whose bucks they’d rather pass;Relax: it’s just some nuclear theocratic missile.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
Anointed victims are the heroes, collective power costs a priceIn the Jawbone Chambers Goliath vetoes his existence rightSo Samson is pilloried at the Temple of Human RightsWhile the Walrus does selective weeping.
The hope that it will all work out is a pretty thin reedbut a basket in the bulrushes is all the boat we needthe vessel of our hope sets out on a wine dark Trojan seaand I'm with Yonah, below decks, sleeping.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
Yonah’s task-avoiding Nineveh, between Tel Aviv and Tyrewhile the perfect storm at sea drives the wind and water higher sailors worry about drowning, me and Yonah about firethat might rain down on his brown-eyed sons and daughters.
British jobs for British men, there's sulphur in the airand CO2 and UV rays and dirty underwearwith the whole world doing laundry in the naked public squareAnd the runoff through the wires we drink like water.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
I go to wake up Yonah, say its time to jump the shipto get swallowed by the whale, and have our magical mystery trip;But Yonah’s watching YouTube, and a pretty funny clipAbout our stowaways, who’ve come to watch the whaling:
There’s the self-hating narcissist, who can’t look in the mirror;And the vegan with the silver spoon who eats soydogs and beer;And the front car rollercoaster guy, who thinks he gets to steer;And the Captain, who has a fear of sailing;
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
The storm is growing worse, sailors fearing for their livesthe Captain says draw lots, to choose the Ship of Fools’ fall guyIt all comes down to numbers, and the vote comes to a tie;Then the Chair of Blaming tables a new motion.
The sister of the PM's wife takes the fundamentalists’ sideand the Light sheep among nations is darkly vilified;the ship risks being stranded by history’s riptideso me and Yonah walk the plank into the ocean.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
We’re swallowed by the whale; grief counselors say: it’s not that bad;in the belly of the beast we meet Pinocchio’s mortal DadThen Yonah’s special pleadings get us spit out near Baghdad;Yonah goes on off to deliver up his warning.
Some time later I meet Yonah, in the shadow of a Gourdat least Nineveh was spared, seems Yonah’s warnings struck a chord But now Yonah’s really ticked off, his ox it was gored‘cuz since the bad things didn’t happen (yet), there’s scorning.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
My sleep these nights are troubled, and freighted with dreamsNot every seaborne cargo is as solid as it seemsand the paperless office has generated reamsof emails, novels, images and soundbites.
Serpent of anxiety wraps its body round my Treeand hissing like an air leak, gives out advice for free;the Snake bites my Achilles heel, I’m foundering at Sea;Then I wake, and hear the morning newsbites.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues
I syncopate anxieties, I harmonize my fearswith a fish eye view of history that my third eye hearsnavigate my way between Eve and Britney SpearsFace a toppled temple in the heart of the global village.
We didn't steal fire, our God gave it as a gift;we got kicked out of Eden, but then He offered us a liftwith Light from Sparks from Flint Stones and a three-score ten-year shiftbedecked with fig leaves from the Tree of Knowledge.
Momma’s down in Florida, with the Elders of the Jews Papa's gone to heaven, what endures is what we choose I'm in trouble with the lifeboat blues