Lyrics: Jerry Jeff Walker. The Ballad of the Hulk.

The cycle of life is here to see
In all its fine simplicity
But the way we live it seems to be
Something very weird to me and I cry out

Pettiness like lady's chatter
It seems to complicate the matter
I grit my teeth, my senses chatter
There's nothing much makes me madder and I leap out

For big or little, great or small
It really doesn't matter at all
The way we shuffle our feet, and hem and haw
'Cause everyone's afraid they'll fall or else be left out

What's right for me are strange to you
Shouldn?t make a damn on what you do
'Cause whether or not you make it through
I thought you already knew that I'll keep you going on

And the World War III
And the world series
Will make the same size
Headlines in the news

From all I've seen of politics
It?s just a greasy big money stick
Geared to run on tongues so slick
To make you think this is all there is you got, I'm afraid

How they con the little middle man
Into thinking he has got a hand
To play in the future of the promised land
He owes himself to the destiny of man, get ridiculous

Cheap gangster can hire someone
To do his work with a tommy gun
While the president points at anyone
And says, "I, your country wants the killing done, go do it now, boy"

But the war itself is bad enough
It can break you down no matter how tough
But the tragedy of hoopla stuff
It makes you think you can't do enough for the Chinese symbols

And the other countries
They feel the same as we
And regret I have
But one country to give for my life

Preacher stands in his holy shroud
Saying, "God forgives if you do it now"
You come back when the chips are down
You?ll find that they've all gone underground to pray for you

And the homosexual twist to preach
He feels that he can preach to me
The right way to go and raise a family
And I'm forced to look at him
He mean to say, ?You're guessing?

As the population is getting higher
The poverty poor, the pregnant tired
Are waiting on the Pope to be inspired
For some new contraceptive attire saying, "It's cool now"

It's a ghost behind a one way mirror
Listening tip-toed at the door to hear
Someone outside won't speak the year
Then, they'll slip a note out how they feel about pierced ear-lobes

But the rules made now
For the changing counts
Are a little late
We'll be out of date by tomorrow

Her mother played on virginity
She said, "It was the holy place to be"
The things boys had were evilry
When it came time for matrimony she froze and died there

Her sister at fourteen, very well known
She thought all kicks came lying there prone
But the fundamental fact not spoken at home
Left her feeling like a chewed on bone and why, she wondered

And one chick who dug moving about
Very liberal minded and of' spoke out
How she was cool and understood
No doubt with the blankets up
The lights turned out, you're condescending

And a couple together for five or six years
A marriage license, they'd never been near
But social pressure and loss of job fear
Got them married and divorced in half a year, they couldn't cut it

It's all talked about
And then it's lived around
But what is right for me
Could be perversity in any state law book

I'm told the minstrel at one time
Was allowed to sing and make his rhymes
To comment on the news of the times
Saying, "What's in people's minds?", and he made tips for it

But today try singing on some street curb
Singing the news in everyday words
The people pass by and laughing is heard
Or else they'll hit you where it hurts or they'll keep their ears closed

One man said, "Boy, I dig your stuff
I want you to come play at my club
I'll put your name in lights up above
But just remember, I got a club to run, so don't you be too strong?

It's not the writers who sell us out
It?s the damn censors who turn about
All your life learned adjectives and vowels
And say my mouth is much too foul to clearly speak to you

But try to hit a nail
And if the hammer fails
Then the words you use to describe that bruise
That's basic language

I hitch hike and sang the songs
That everybody knew and sang along
To amuse myself I wrote some songs
Speaking about what's right and wrong, and I'm a little different

So a record company, you know well
Wanted to know if my song would sell
I said, "Yes, I like it very well
If you don't, sir, you can go to help somebody else change?

I kept hope on and bumming around
Singing to my friends who dig that sound
A few guys said, "Won't you come to my town"
I ask fair bread, they put me down their Caddie's mortgaged

I made one deal like it's you and me
This guy said he'd be lots of use to me
But when I found he's putting the screws to me
I made it back out on the street singing new folk songs

And if there's time enough
And the hill ain't too rough
What I wrote today
I might someday play and make some tips for it

Don't, next, the next issue of the hulk