Moves like a fist through traffic

Anger and no one can heal it

Shoves a little bump into the momentum

It's just a little lump

But you feel it

In the creases and the shadows

With a rattling deep emotion

The cool, cool river

Sweeps the wild, white ocean



Yes Boss. The government handshake

Yes Boss. The crusher of language

Yes Boss. Mr. Stillwater,

The face at the edge of the banquet

The cool, the cool river

The cool, the cool river



I believe in the future

I may live in my car

My radio tuned to

The voice of a star

Song dogs barking at the break of dawn

Lightning pushes the edge of a thunderstorm

And these old hopes and fears

Still at my side



Anger and no one can heal it

Slides through the metal detector

Lives like a mole in a motel

A slide in a slide projector

The cool, cool river

Sweeps the wild, white ocean

The rage of love turns inward

To prayers of devotion

And these prayers are

The constant road across the wilderness

These prayers are

These prayers are the memory of God

The memory of God



And I believe in the future

We shall suffer no more

Maybe not in my lifetime

But in yours I feel sure

Song dogs barking at the break of dawn

Lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm

And these streets

Quiet as a sleeping army

Send their battered dreams to heaven, to heaven

For the mother's restless son

Who is a witness to, who is a warrior

Who denies his urge to break and run



Who says: Hard times?

I'm used to them

The speeding planet burns

I'm used to that

My life's so common it disappears

And sometimes even music

Cannot substitute for tears