Ashes

Lyrics

As I walk down the hill like I did since I was a twenty-something kid I thought, "Oh my god, there's something loose shaking beneath my skin Oh my god, these are my elbows, these are my wrists This is my jaw and this is my ribs" Underneath my skin, yes there is a skeleton I didn't think about this when I was twenty or thirty or fourty All I thought about then was spreading my seed around via my rockstar glory And at thirty for sure there was an eternity Of magical days and nights on this planet laying before me I didn't think I would slow down when I was twenty or thirty or fourty But last night I was walking in the rain and suddenly it hit me now that I'm fifty My shoulder blades are pointy and my flesh feels less thick and more like gelatin Suddenly, my skin something mildly there to protect my skeleton Some girls were in the restaurant talking about their charmed life About growing up rich and the many many many many downsides One of their parents used to punish her when she acted a fool By making her walk to the bus stop and taking the bus to school One of them said Chinese food was so much better in China than in the States I said, "How profound, that wouldn't have occurred To the rest of us here enjoying the food on our plates And Spanish food is better in Spain, wouldn't you think dimwit? And Southern food is better in the South, oh you haven't been there? Well when you do, compare the grits to the grits they serve in Manhattan Anyhow young lady, please enjoy your food Observe the homeless people outside, you're putting me in a bad mood" Oh how I wanted to say more to her And asked what she'd like to say on her tombstone When her charmed life is over But I walked back up Pine Street in the rain Came back to my apartment Got tucked in bed with my girlfriend's cat and turned on CNN 59 Tomahawk missiles were sent into Syria Because Trump saw photos of dead men and women and children Adding more to the ever-growing pile of skeletons Skeletons that are no longer protected by skin Skeletons that are now ashes blowing in the wind Their ashes, my friend, are your sisters and brothers, friend And the answer, my friend, is that in war, nobody wins Their ashes, my friend, are blowing Their ashes, my friend, are growing Their ashes, my friend, are blowing Their ashes, my friend, are growing As I lay in bed My skeleton warmed and protected by my aging skin I can't see the cat's skin The cat is fat, like a big feathery hen And that girl's probably out at a bar, gathering with her friends And I fall asleep tonight to the headline