Singers and the Endless Song

When we all ran back into the briars

We told our children about the foreign shore

When we threw our boots into the fire

We told them all about the tug of war

Gonna tell them about the seed and the shovel

About the prison and the promised land

Gonna tell them about the dream of the devil

About the hurting and the healing hand, that hand

Cause the music never lasts too long for the singers and the endless song

When we held our words up in the mirror

We told our children how to hold their tongues

When we held our heads beneath the river

We told them all about the iron lung

Gonna tell them about the sins of the father

About the junkie and the jubilee

Gonna tell them about the roots in the water

About the killing in the quiet line of trees

Cause the music never lasts too long for the singers and the endless song

All our morning kisses in the covers

And told our children what 'worthy' means

And then you wrapped your arms around another

And told them what was worth a pile of beans

Gonna tell them about the call of the ocean

About the singers and the endless song

Gonna tell them about the body and the motion

And how the music never lasts too long, too long

Cause the music never lasts too long for the singers and the endless song

About the low lit alley and the wedding bed

About the first born sucker and the spider's web

Cause the music never lasts too long for the singers and the endless song

About the mind and the muscle and the weary mile

About the heart and the hustle and the empty sky

Cause the music never lasts too long for the singers and the endless song

About the tangled up truth in the perfect teeth

About the pilgrim and the picking through the chaff and wheat

Cause the music never lasts too long for the singers and the endless song

About the butterfly kiss and the call for blood

About the pig and the preacher and the holy mud

Cause the music never lasts too long for the singers and the endless song

About the breeze in the summer and the nose will know

About the sleep through the winter when the cold wind blows

Cause the music never lasts too long for the singers and the endless song

About the lame duck lion and the thorny crown

About the proud punk mule and the heavy plow

Cause the music never lasts too long for the singers and the endless song

About the sunburned belly and the mother's moon

About the end of the music coming way too soon