Feed Of Man

If you

Beat up, butcher, and

You bleed a man:

If you bang up and badger and

Bloodlet a man;

And then I come along

On the feet of man

And half way laff and cry 'bout

The meat of man,

And I do what I can to

Bale string and tie some ballad truths

Up cured out

For the feed of man

And

Folks try to tell me

That it's on god's orders

That you bleed your man;

It's on god's good word that you

Bleed your man;

On god's plan print

That you dead a man;

Or you spit and curse and whip

Your man;

I say I'll help you fix and

Squeeze yourself up a new kind of a god

Of some kind;

One that tells you

Fertilyze and multyplye;

One that

Tells you:

Outsow and outblow,

Outplant and outgrow;

Outdo, and outrun, and outclimb, and out spread

Every other tree and bush

And brushy fruits and flower petalls;

Out fruit them all

For the feed of man;

Out stalk and out hunt and out think

For god's own sweet sake, out think! out think!

Outthink the fruits

Outgrow these animal kind and shapes of man!

It you miss and go down

Your dust will turn up on that long hot job

Once more again

To help in the feeding and the seed of man

And not in the bleeding and the end of man.

Words: woody guthrie (date unknown) - music: jeff tweedy (1998)

Jay bennett: b3 organ, leslie guitar

Billy bragg: resonator guitar

Ken coomer: drums

John stirratt: bass

Jeff tweedy: vocal, acoustic guitar, electric guitar