That Can’t Be Right

We both got some hard-knocks
We might have earned
Some folks go to school
Others have to learn
That most of life is wishing
Tryin' to get back
To a memory of a memory
You never might've had

My heart's a locomotive
Runs on blackened coal
And cigarettes and coffee
I could never roll my own

I'm borrowing matches from the padre
Hearing church bells toll
Wondering what the hell's the difference
Between dying and gettin' old

That can't be right
What year is it this year tonight?
If I die, I'll die of fright
That can't be right

That acid flashback really
Really cracked my ice
Do the right drug once
You'll get to do it twice

And now I'm crowin' about places
And things I've never been
You know I'm never gonna whore it out
And take that gig again

I believe the light is cracklin'
'Round the edge of anesthesia
Lying on a table
With the whole world reachin' in ya

Hope to Jesus Buddha Bob
That they washed their hands
There's no class action passage
To break all my shitty bands

That can't be right
What year is it this year tonight?
If I die, I'll die of fright
That can't be right

When I was younger
It confused me
Now I think I get it
My old man he don't like pictures
'Specially if he's in 'em

Time is not a mirror
It's some distorted view
Of the way you thought you was
And what you thought they thought of you
And all that trash that I tossed out
It weren't by no means good
But just 'cause someone tells ya
Don't really mean you should

My friends would try and cheer my up
The best they knew to do
There's no rescuing a diver
With two cinder blocks for shoes

That can't be right
What year is it this year tonight?
If I die, I'll die of fright
That can't be right

I'm still agog with mortal dogs
And skills I don't possess
I'm a practitioner of practice
I'm-a givin' it my best

I'm left and I'm still leaving
I got several miles to go
I ain't ready to do something
'Till there's something I'm ready for

There's a pillar in the desert
And it's all a-lit with flames
It's been burning there for eons
It's the end of all the games
We owe apologies
And ass-whoopins
It seems to even out
You can't never know you're happy
If you've never lived without

And that's alright
What year is it this year tonight?
If I die, I'll die of fright
That can't be right

That can't be right
What year is it this year tonight?
Four white horses towards the light
That can't be right