Celebration of the Lizard

Lions in the street and roaming
Dogs in heat, rabid, foaming
A beast caged in the heart of a city

The body of his mother
Rotting in the summer ground
He fled the town
He went down South and crossed the border
Left the chaos and disorder
Back there over his shoulder

One morning he awoke in a green hotel
With a strange creature groaning beside him
Sweat oozed from its shiny skin

Is everybody in?
Is everybody in?
Is everybody in?
The ceremony is about to begin

Wake up
You can't remember where it was
Had this dream stopped?

The snake was pale gold
Glazed and shrunken
We were afraid to touch it
The sheets were hot dead prisons
And she was beside me
Old, she's not, young
Her dark white hair
Her white soft skin

Now, run to the mirror in the bathroom
Look!
She's coming in here
I can't live through each slow century of her moving
I let my cheek slide down
The cool smooth tile
Feel the good cold stinging blood
The smooth hissing snakes of rain

Once I had, a little game
I liked to crawl back into my brain
I think you know the game I mean
I mean the game called 'go insane'

Now, you should try this little game
Just close your eyes, forget your name
Forget the world, forget the people
And we'll erect a different steeple

This little game is fun to do
Just close your eyes, no way to lose
And I'm right here, I'm going too
Release control, we're breaking through, yeah

Uh

Way back deep into the brain
Way back past the realm of pain
Back where there's never any rain
And in the labyrinth of streams beneath
The quiet unearthly presence of gentle hill people
In the gentle hills around
Reptiles abounding
Fossils, caves, cool air heights

Each house repeats a mold
Windows rolled
Beast car locked in against morning
Rugs silent, mirrors vacant
Dust blind under the beds of lawful couples
Wound in sheets
And daughters smug with semen
Eyes in their nipples

Wait
There's been a slaughter here

Don't stop to speak or look around
Your gloves and fan are on the ground
We're getting out of town
We're going on the run
And you're the one I want to come

Not to touch the earth
Not to see the sun
Nothing left to do, but
Run, run, run
Let's run
Let's run

House upon the hill
Moon is lying still
Shadows of the trees
Witnessing the wild breeze
C'mon baby, run with me
Let's run

Run with me
Run with me
Run with me
Let's run

Not to touch the earth
Not to see the sun
Nothing left to do, but
Run, run, run
Let's run
Let's run

House upon the hill
Moon is lying still
Shadows of the trees
Witnessing the wild breeze
C'mon baby, run with me
Let's run

Dead president's corpse in the driver's car
The engine runs on glue and tar
C'mon along, we're not going very far
To the East to meet the Czar

The mansion is warm, at the top of the hill
Rich are the rooms and the comforts there
Red are the arms of luxuriant chairs
And you won't know a thing till you get inside, yeah

Run with me
Run with me
Run with me
Let's run

Some outlaws lived by the side of the lake
The minister's daughter's in love with the snake
Who lives in a well by the side of the road
Wake up, girl! We're almost home, yeah, c'mon

We should see the gates by morning
We should be insisde by evening

Ohh
Let the carnival bells ring
Let the serpent sing
Let everything

We came down the rivers and highways
We came down from forests and falls
We came down from Carson and Springfield
We came down from Phoenix enthralled

And I can tell you the names of the Kingdom
I can tell you the things that you know
Listening for a fistful of silence
Climbing valleys into the shade

I am the Lizard King
Retire now to your tents and to your dreams
Tomorrow we enter the town of my birth
I want to be ready