THE TIES THAT BIND

You been hurt and you're all cried out you say

You walk down the street pushing people outta your way

You packed your bags and all alone you wanna ride

You don't want nothing, don't need no one by your side

You're walking tough, baby but you're walking blind

To the ties that bind

The ties that bind

Now you can't break the ties that bind

Cheap romance, it's all just a crutch

You don't want nothing that anybody can touch

You're so afraid of being somebody's fool

Not walking tough, baby not walking cool

You walk cool, but darling, can you walk the line

And face the ties that bind

The ties that bind

Now you can't break the ties that bind

I would rather feel the hurt inside, yes I would darling

Than know the emptiness your heart must hide

Yes I would darling

Yes I would darling,

Yes I would baby

You sit and wonder just who's gonna stop the rain

Who'll ease the sadness, who's gonna quiet the pain

It's a long dark highway and a thin white line

Connecting baby your heart to mine

We're running now but darling we will stand in time

To face the ties that bind

The ties that bind

Now you can't break the ties that bind

You can't forsake the ties that bind 

SHERRY DARLING

Your mama's yapping in the backseat

Tell her to push over and move them big feet

Every Monday morning

I gotta drive her done to the unemployment agency

Well this morning I ain't fighting tell her I give up

Tell her she wins if she'll just shut up

But it's the last time that she's gonna be riding with me

You can tell her there's a hot sun beating on the black top

She keeps talking she'll be walking that last block

She can take a subway back to the ghetto tonight

Well I got some beer and the highway's free

And I got you and baby you've got me

Hey, hey, hey, what you say

Sherry Darling

Now there's girls melting on the beach

And they're so fine but so out of reach

Cause I'm stuck in traffic down here on 53rd Street

Now Sherry my love for you is real

But I didn't count on this package deal

And baby this car just ain't big enough for her and me

So you can tell her there's a hot sun beating on the black top

She keeps talking she'll be walking that last block

She can take a subway back to the ghetto tonight

Well I got some beer and the highway's free

And I got you and baby you've got me

Hey, hey, hey, what you say

Sherry Darling

Well let there be sunlight let there be rain

Let the brokenhearted love again

Sherry we could run with our arms open wide before the tide

To all the girls down at Sacred Heart

And all you operators back in the park

Say hey, hey, hey, what you say

Sherry Darling

Hey hey hey, what you say

Sherry Darling 

JACKSON CAGE

Driving home she grabs something to eat

Turns a corner and drives down her street Into a row of houses she just melts away

Like a scenery in another man's play Into a house where the blinds are closed

To keep from seeing things she don't wanna know

She pulls the blinds and looks out on the street

Where the cool of the night takes the edge off the street In the Jackson Cage

Down in the Jackson Cage

You can try with all your might

But you're reminded everynight

That you've been judged and handed life

Down in the Jackson Cage

Every day ends in wasted motion

Just crossed swords on the killing floor

To settle back is to settle without knowing

The hard edge that you're settling for

Because there's always just one more day

And it's always gonna be that way

Little girl you've been down here so long I can tell by the way that you move you belong to

The Jackson Cage

Down in Jackson Cage

And it don't matter just what you say

Are you tough enough to play the game they play

Or will you just do your time and fade away

Down into the Jackson Cage

Baby there's nights when I dream of a better world

But I wake so downhearted girl

I see you feeling so tired and confused

I wonder what it's worth to me or you

Just waiting to see some sun

Never knowing if that day will ever come

Left alone standing out on the street

Till you become the hand that turns the key down in Jackson Cage

Down in Jackson Cage

Well darling can you understand

The way that they will turn a man Into a stranger to waste away

Down in the Jackson Cage 

TWO HEARTS

I went out walking the other day

Seen a little girl crying along the way

She'd been hurt so bad said she'd never love again

Someday your crying girl will end

And you'll find once again

Two hearts are better than one

Two hearts girl get the job done

Two hearts are better than one

Once I spent my time playing tough guy scenes

But I was living in a world of childish dreams

Someday these childish dreams must end

To become a man and grow up to dream again

Now I believe in the end

Two hearts are better than one

Two hearts girl get the job done

Two hearts are better than one

Sometimes it might seem like it was planned

For you to roam empty hearted through this land

Though the world turns you hard and cold

There's one thing mister that I know

That's if you think your heart is stone

And that you're rough enough to whip this world alone

Alonu buddy there ain't no peace of mind

That's way I'll keep searching till I find my special one

Two hearts are better than one

Two hearts girl get the job done

Two hearts are better than one 

INDEPENDANCE DAY

Well papa go to bed now it's getting late

Nothing we can say is gonna change anything now

I'll be leaving in the morning from St. Mary's Gate

We wouldn't change this thing even if we could somehow

Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us

There's a darkness in this town that's got us too

But they can't touch me now

And you can't touch me now

They ain't gonna do to me

What I watched them do to you

So say goodbye it's Independance Day

It's Independance Day

All down the line

Just say goodbye it's Independance Day

It's Independance Day this time

Now I don't know what it always was with us

We chose the words, and yeah, we drew the lines

There was just no way this house could hold the two of us

I guess that we were just too much of the same kind

Well say goodbye it's Independance Day

It's Independance Day all boys must run away

So say goodbye it's Independance Day

All men must make their way come Independance Day

Now the rooms are all empty down at Frankie's joint

And the highway she's deserted clear down to Breaker's Point

There's a lot of people leaving town now, leaving their friends, their homes

At night they walk that dark and dusty highway all alone

Well papa go to bed now, it's getting late

Nothing we can say can change anything now

Because there's just different people coming down here now and they see things in different ways

And soon everything we've known will just be swept away

So say goodbye it's Independance Day

Papa now I know the things you wanted that you could not say

But won't you just say goodbye it's Independance Day

I swear I never meant to take those things away 

HUNGRY HEART

Got a wife and kids in Baltimore

Jack I went out for a ride and I never went back

Like a river that don't know where it's flowing

I took a wrong turn and I just kept going

Everybody's got a hungry heart

Everybody's got a hungry heart

Lay down your money and you play your part

Everybody's got a hungry heart

I met her in a Kingstown bar

We fell in love I knew it had to end

We took what we had and we ripped it apart

Now here I am down in Kingstown again

Everybody's got a hungry heart

Everybody's got a hungry heart

Lay down your money and you play your part

Everybody's got a hungry heart

Everybody needs a place to rest

Everybody wants to have a home

Don't make no difference what nobody says

Ain't nobody like to be alone

Everybody's got a hungry heart

Everybody's got a hungry heart

Lay down your money and you play your part

Everybody's got a hungry heart 

OUT IN THE STREET

Put on your best dress baby

And darling fix your hair up right

Cause there's a party honey

Way down beneath the neon lights

All day you've been working that hard line

Now tonight you're gonna have a good time I work five days a week girl

Loading crates down on the dock I take my hard earned money

And meet my girl down on the block

And Monday when the foreman calls time I've already got

Friday on my mind

When that whistle blows

Girl, I'm down the street I'm home, I'm out of my work clothes

When I'm out in the street I walk the way I wanna walk

When I'm out in the street I talk the way I wanna talk

When I'm out in the street

When I'm out in the street

When I'm out in the street girl,

Well, I never feel alone

When I'm out in the street girl, In the crowd I feel at home

The black and whites they cruise by

And they watch us from the corner of their eyes

But there ain't no doubt girl, down here

We ain't gonna take what they're handing out

When I'm out in the street I walk the way I wanna walk

When I'm out in the street I talk the way I wanna talk

Baby, out in the street I don't feel sad or blue

Baby, out in the street I'll be waiting for you

When the whistle blows

Girl, I'm down the street I'm home, I'm out of my work clothes

When I'm out in the street I walk the way I wanna walk

When I'm out in the street I talk the way I wanna talk

When I'm out in the street

Pretty girls, they're all passing by

When I'm out in the street

From the corner we give them the eye

Baby, out in the street I just feel all right

Meet me out in the street, little girl tonight

Meet me out in the street

Meet me out in the street 

CRUSH ON YOU

My feets were flying down the street just the other night

When a Hong Kong special pulled up at the light

What was inside, man, was just c'est magnifique

I wanted to hold the bumper and let her drag me down the street

Ooh, ooh, I gotta crush on you

Ooh, ooh, I gotta crush on you

Ooh, ooh, I gotta crush on you tonight

Sometimes I spot a little stranger standing 'cross the room

My brain takes a vacation just to give my heart more room

For one kiss, darling I swear everything I would give

Cause you're a walking, talking reason to live

Ooh, ooh, I gotta crush on you

Ooh, ooh, I gotta crush on you

Ooh, ooh, I gotta crush on you tonight

Well now she might be the talk of high society

She's probably got a lousy personality

She might be a heiress to Rockefeller

She might be a waitress or a bank teller

She makes the Venus de Milo look like she's got no style

She make Sheena of the Jungle look meek and mild

I need a quick shot, Doc, knock me off my feet

Cause I'll be minding my own business walking down the street... watchout!

Ooh, ooh, I gotta crush on you

Ooh, ooh, I gotta crush on you

Ooh, ooh, I gotta crush on you tonight 

YOU CAN LOOK (BUT YOU BETTER NOT TOUCH)

Yesterday I went shopping buddy down to the mall

Looking for something pretty I could hang on my wall

I knocked over a lamp before it hit the floor I caught it

A salesman turned around said, "boy you break that thing you bought it"

You can look but you better not touch boy

You can look but you better not touch boy

Mess around and you'll end up in Dutch boy

You can look but you better not, no you better not, no you better not touch

Well I came home from work and I switched to Channel 5

There was a pretty little girly looking straight into my eyes

Well I watched as she wiggled back and forth across the screen

She didn't get me excited she just made me feel mean

You can look but you better not touch boy

You can look but you better not touch boy

Mess around and you'll end up in Dutch boy

You can look but you better not, no you better not, no you better not touch

Well I called up Dirty Annie on the telephone

I took her out to the drive-in just to get her alone

I found a lover's rendezvous, the music low, set to park

I heard a tapping on the window and a voice in the dark

You can look but you better not touch boy

You can look but you better not touch boy

Mess around and you'll end up in Dutch boy

You can look but you better not, no you better not, no you better not touch 

I WANNA MARRY YOU

I see you walking baby down the street

Pushing that baby carriage at your feet

I see that lonely ribbon in your hair

Tell me I am the man for whom you put it there

You never smile girl, you never speak

You just walk on by, darling week after week

Raising two kids alone in this mixed up world

Must be a lonely life for a working girl

Little girl I wanna marry you

Oh yeah, little girl I wanna marry you

Yes I do Little girl, I wanna marry you

Now, honey I don't wanna clip your wings

But a time comes when two people should think of these things

Having a home and a family

Facing up to their responsibilities

They say that in the end true love prevails

But in the end true love can't be no fairytale

To say I'll make your dreams come true would be wrong

But maybe darling, I could help them along

Little girl I wanna marry you

Oh yeah, little girl I wanna marry you

Yes I do Little girl, I wanna marry you

My daddy said right before he died

That true, true love was just a lie

He went to his grave a broken heart

An unfulfilled live, makes a man hard

Oh, darling, there's something happy and there's something sad

But wanting somebody, oh so bad

I wear my love darling without shame

I'd be proud if you would wear my name 

THE RIVER

I come from down in the valley

Where mister, when you're young

They bring you up to do like your daddy done

Me and Mary we met in high school

When she was just seventeen

We'd drive out of this valley down to where the fields were green

We'd go down to the river

And into the river we'd dive

Oh down to the river we'd ride

Then I got Mary pregnant

And, man, that was all she wrote

And for my 19th birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat

We went down to the courthouse

And the judge put it all to rest

No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle

No flowers, no wedding dress

That night we went down to the river

And into the river we'd dive

Oh down to the river we did ride

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company

But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy

Now all them things that seemed so important

Well mister they vanished right into the air

Now I just act like I don't remember

Mary acts like she don't care

But I remember us riding in my brother's car

Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir

At night on them banks I'd lie awake

And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take

Now those memories come back to haunt me

They haunt me like a curse Is a dream a lie if it don't come true

Or is it something worse, that sends me

Down to the river though I know the river is dry

That sends me down to the river tonight

Down to the river my baby and I

Oh down to the river we ride 

POINT BLANK

Do you still say your prayers little darling

Do you go to bed at night

Praying that tomorrow, everything will be allright

But tomorrow's fall in number in number one by one

You wake up and you're dying you don't even know what from

Well they shot you point blank you been shot in the back

Baby point blank you been fooled this time, little girl that's a fact

Right between the eyes baby, point blank

Right between the pretty lies that they tell Little girl you fell

You grew up where young girls they grow up fast

You took what you were handed and left behind what was asked

But what they asked baby wasn't right

You didn't have to live that live I was gonna be your

Romeo you were gonna be my Juliet

These days you don't wait for Romeo's, you wait on that welfare check

And on all the pretty things that you can't ever have and on all the promises

That always end up point blank, shot between the eyes

Point blank like little white lies you tell to ease the pain

You're walking in the sights, girl of point blank

And it's one false move and baby the lights go out

Once I dreamed we were together again Baby you and me

Back home in those old clubs the way we used to be

We were standing at the bar it was hard to hear

The band was playing loud and you were shouting something in my ear

You pulled my jacket off and as the drummer counted four

You grabbed my hand and pulled me out on the floor

You just stood there and held me, then you started dancing slow

And as I pulled you tighter I swore I'd never let you go

Well I saw you last night down on the avenue

Your face was in the shadows but I knew that it was you

You were standing in the doorway out of the rain

You didn't answer when I called out your name

You just turned and then you looked away

Like just another stranger waiting to get blown away

Point blank, right between the eyes

Point blank, right between the pretty lies you fell

Point blank, shot straight through the heart

Yea point blank, you've been twisted up till you've become just another part of it

Point blank, you're walking in the sights

Point blank, living one false move, just one false move away

Point blank, they caught you in their sights

Point blank, did you forget how to love, girl did you forget how to fight

Point blank, they must have shot you in the head

Cause point blank, bang bang baby you're dead 

CADILLAC RANCH

Well, there she sits buddy justa gleaming in the sun

There to greet a working man when his day is done

I'm gonna pack my pa and I'm gonna pack my aunt

I'm gonna take them down to the Cadillac Ranch

Eldorado fins, whitewalls and skirts

Rides just like a little bit of heaven here on earth

Well buddy when I die throw my body in the back

And drive me to the junkyard in my Cadillac

Cadillac,

Cadillac

Long and dark, shiny and black

Open up your engines let 'em roar

Tearing up the highway like a big old dinosaur J

ames Dean in that Mercury '49

Junior Johnson running through the woods of

Caroline Even Burt Reynolds in that black Trans-Am

All gonna meet down at the Cadillac Ranch

Cadillac,

Cadillac

Long and dark, shiny and black

Open up your engines let 'em roar

Tearing up the highway just a big old dinosaur

Hey, little girlie in the blue jeans so tight

Driving alone through the Wisconsin night

You're my last love baby, you're my last change

Don't let them take me to the Cadillac Ranch

Cadillac,

Cadillac

Long and dark, shiny and black

Pulled up to my house today

Came and took my little girl away 

I'M A ROCKER

I got a 007 watch and it's a one and only It's got a I-

Spy beeper that tells me when you're lonely I got a

Batmobile so I can reach ya' in a fast shake

When your world's in crisis of an impending heartbreak

Now don't you call James Bond or Secret Agent Man

Cause they can't do it, like I can I'm a rocker, baby

I'm a rocker - every day I'm a rocker, baby I'm a rocker

If you're hanging from a cliff or you're tied to the tracks girl

Columbo split and you can't find Kojak

True love is broken and the tears are falling faster

You're suffering from a pain in your heart or some other natural disaster

Now I don't care what kind of shape you're in

If they put up a roadblock, I'll parachute in I'm a rocker, baby,

I'm a rocker - I'm in love I'm a rocker, baby,

I'm a rocker - every day I'm a rocker, baby,

I'm a rocker - with you

So you fell for some jerk who was tall, dark and handsome

Then he kidnapped your heart and now he's holding it for ransom

Well, like a mission impossible I'm gonna go and get it back

You know I would'a taken better care of it, baby than that

Sometimes I get so hot girl, well, I can't talk

But when I'm with you I cool off, and I walk

I'm a rocker, baby,

I'm a rocker, and I talk

I'm a rocker, baby,

I'm a rocker, every day

I'm a rocker, baby,

I'm a rocker, every day 

FADE AWAY

Well now you say you've found another man who does things to you that I can't

And that no matter what I do it's all over now between me and you girl

But I can't believe what you say

No I can't believe what you say 'cause baby I don't wanna fade away

Oh I don't wanna fade away

Tell me what can I do what can I say

Cause darling I don't wanna fade away

Well now you say that you've made up your mind

It's been such a long, long time since it's been good with us

And that somewhere back along the line you lost your love and I lost your trust

Now rooms that once were so bright are filled with the coming night,

Darling I don't wanna fade away

Oh I don't wanna fade away

Tell me what can I do what can I say

Cause darling I don't wanna fade away

You say it's not easy for you

And that you've been so lonely

While other girls go out doing what they want to do

You say that you miss the nights when we'd go out dancing

The days when you and I walked as two

Well girl, I miss them too

Oh I swear that I do Oh girl

Now baby I don't wanna be just another useless memory holding you tight

Or just some other ghost out on the street to whom you stop and politely speak

When you pass on by vanishing into the night

Left to vanish into the night

No baby I don't wanna fade away

Oh I don't wanna fade away

Tell me what can I do what can I say

Cause darling I don't wanna fade away.

STOLEN CAR

I met a little girl and I settled down

In a little house out on the edge of town

We got married, and swore we'd never part

Then little by little we drifted from each other's heart

At first I thought it was just restlessness

That would fade as time went by and our love grew deep

In the end it was something more I guess

That tore us apart and made us weep

And I'm driving a stolen car

Down on Eldridge Avenue

Each night I wait to get caught

But I never do

She asked if I remembered the letters I wrote

When our love was young and bold

She said last night she read those letters

And they made her feel one hundred years old

And I'm driving a stolen car

On a pitch black night

And I'm telling myself I'm gonna be alright

But I ride by night and I travel in fear

That in this darkness I will disappear 

RAMROD

Hey, little dolly with the blue jeans on

I wanna ramrod with you honey, till halfpast dawn

Let your hair down sugar and pick up this beat

Come on and meet me tonight down on Bluebird street

I've been working all week, I'm up to my neck in hock

Come Saturday night I let my ramrod rock

She's a hot stepping hemi with a four on the floor

She's a roadrunner engine in a '32 Ford

Late at night when I'm dead on the line

I swear I think of your pretty face when I let her unwind

Well look over yonder see them city lights

Come on little dolly 'n' go ramrodding tonight

Come on, come on, come on little baby

Come on, come on let's shake it tonight

Come on, come on, come on little sugar

Dance with your daddy and we'll go ramrodding tonight

Hey little dolly won't you say you will

Meet me tonight on the top of the hill

Well just a few miles cross the county line

There's a cute little chapel nestled down in the pines

Say you'll be mine little girl I'll put my foot on the floor

Give me the word now sugar, we'll go ramrodding forever more.

THE PRICE YOU PAY

You make up your mind, you choose the chance you take

You ride to where the highway ends and the desert breaks

Out on to an open road you ride until the day

You learn to sleep at nigth with the price you pay

Now with their hands held high, they reached out for the open skies

And in one last breath they built the roads they'd ride to their death

Driving on through the night, unable to break away

From the restless pull of the price you pay

Oh, the price you pay, oh, the price you pay

Now you can't walk away from the price you pay

Now they'd come so far and they'd waited so long

Just to end up caught in a dream where everything goes wrong

Where the dark of night holds back the light of day

And you've gotta stand and fight for the price you pay

Oh, the price you pay, oh, the price you pay

Now you can't walk away from the price you pay

Little girl down on the strand

With that pretty little baby in your hands

Do you remember the story of the promised land

How he crossed the desert sands

And could not enter the chosen land

On the banks of the river he stayed

To face the price you pay

So let the game start, you better run you little wild heart

You can run through all the nights and all the days

But just across the county line, a stranger passing through put up a sign

That counts the man fallen away to the price you pay, and girl before the end of the day

I'm gonna tear it down and throw it away.

DRIVE ALL NIGHT

When I lost you honey sometimes I think I lost my guts too

And I wish God would send me a word, send me something I'm afraid to lose

Lying in the heat of night like prisoners all our lives

I get shivers down my spine and all I wanna do is hold you tight

I swear I'll drive all night just to buy you some shoes

And to taste your tender charms

And I just wanna sleep tonight again in your arms

Tonight there's fallen angels and they're waiting for us down in the street

Tonight there's calling strangers, hear them crying in defeat

Let them go, let them go, let them go, do their dances of the death (let 'em go right ahead)

You just dry your eyes girl, and c'mon c'mon c'mon let's go to bed baby, baby, baby

I swear I'll drive all night just to buy you some shoes

And to taste your tender charms

And I just wanna sleep tonight again in your arms

There's machines and there's fire waiting on the edge of town

They're out there for hire but baby they can't hurt us now

Cause you've got, you've got, you've got, you've got my love, you've got my love

Through the wind, through the rain, the snow, the wind, the rain

You've got, you've got my, my love, heart and soul.

WRECK ON THE HIGHWAY

Last night I was out driving

Coming home at the end of the working day

I was riding alone through the drizzling rain

On a deserted stretch of a county two lane

When I came upon a wreck on the highway

Now there was blood and glass all over

And there was nobody there but me

As the rain tumbled down hard and cold

I seen a young man lying by the side of the road

He cried Mister, won't you help me please

An ambulance finally came and took him to

Riverside I watched as they drove him away

And I thought of a girlfriend or a young wife

And a state trooper knocking in the middle of the night

To say your baby died in a wreck on the highway

Sometimes I sit up in the darkness

And I watch my baby as she sleeps

Then I climb in bed and I hold her tight

I just lay there awake in the middle of the nigth

Thinking 'bout the wreck on the highway