It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

[thin man]

this could easily be 'Song of the Day' everyday

but especially today ... and tomorrow

( one verse at a time)


remember the
30th Anniversary Concert

.. I know I do



Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

[thin man]

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

[thin man]

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

[thin man]

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.





As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

[thin man]

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

[thin man]

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

[thin man]

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.


Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

[thin man]

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

[thin man]

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

[thin man]

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.


For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

[thin man]

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

[thin man]

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

[thin man]

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.


Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

[thin man]

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

[thin man]

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?

[thin man]

And if my thought-dreams could be seen

They'd probably put my head in a guillotine

But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.

[thin man]

italian television showed this concert.. thank you Canale 5


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B25bTEsI4O0

[Sandrine]

.

[Isis]

I think It's all right Ma also would be a good pick to sing to the president Obama. Because he would most likely appreciate to hear that song because he has so many things to try to better but he is only human too and so often he must suffer because his hands are tied.
In this song Bob explains all that the human condition...we are here for a moment The president is just like you and me struggeling with all kinds of problems. This song can also encorage a person not to give up.
My fav line is Not to hate anything except hatred.

What a clever and soothing line. If you take it to heart it can help you to get a grip of those deep feelings of hatred that we all feel at times And I donno if I should say that is unfortunate or not because if we never felt hatred we could not know love. Everything has its opposites. Yin and young
Good and bad. It all evens out in the end maybe?

[Sandrine]

.

[WLDB]

Its a great song. I really like the way he does it now with his band. I wish he'd do an actual live album again with some old songs as he does them now.

[thin man]

Its a great song. I really like the way he does it now with his band. I wish he'd do an actual live album again with some old songs as he does them now.

how do you you mean? studio live or concert live ?


if you mean studio, I'd agree 100%

which tracks & how many.. ?

[thin man]

oh.. wait .. do you also mean .. live acoustic..???



NOW WE'RE TALKIN'!!!

[thin man]

you also mean .. light on the drums.. or even NO drums, and a Grand piano .. and stand up base?


I think you're on to something here.. WLDB

[thin man]

a bit like white house unplugged.. OHH .. I get the idea