[Jandek] A Kingdom He Likes - lyrics

[Paul Condon]

As always, second opinions necessary...

I GAVE MY ETERNITY 
Whoever calls at (it?) night  
Is not serious enough 
I'm offered the day 
I shut out the lights 
I watch the day pass 
And in these moments 
I intermittently escape 
To the space around my epicentre 
It don't need to go far
For me to see it here
In many ways, yes
But in all ways, no 
I can't see too far
And I don't want to 
It's your own little world
And you live here 
You know I want to be alone 
And that's why I don't find you 
But you may be around 
And I don't get you 
I still am found 
I gave my eternity 
Gave it away 
And you can find it 
Under your sway 
Whoever calls at (it?) night
Is not serious enough 
At night I've gone back 
To where I came from 
I see my journey 
In a thousand ways 
Take off your mask now 
Reveal yourself 
Come out and show me 
You beautiful thing 
I'll just be me here 
And the space around me 
Get good machines now 
Don't buy mediocrity 
You'll eat your lunch now 
Like a low place swamp traveller
Who happens upon a kingdom he likes
And he will serve you now
I'll make him do that 
He's at your service Have you the strength 
To be he, she now  
Get up and go 
And if you stop now 
Hey, go, go, go, go 
Go, go, go, go now 
You're here, I'm there 
 
REAL AFTERNOONS 
There's only one altar, that's the refrigerator 
Where you keep your food 
Whether you slaughter human, animal or grapes 
It's your altar 
Devour your God's knowledge 
At your altar 
In your food you eat 
Build your blocks to stand on 
Tall and erect 
Skank, you skank, leave me 
I got away after you left 
Now I'm gone, don't see me 
Forget and go on somewhere 
I forgot, now I'm free 
I ain't goin' back to no mystery 
These afternoons are real

A WINDY TIME 
I just met the nicest of people 
They only wanted to share business 
There were some guests in the rain 
Brought in a windy time 
But we'll be talking 
Forever in my (and a?) day 
I don't need a smoke alarm 
To tell me there's a fire 
And I still have the sense 
Of smell and heat and cold 
But most of all my intuition 
Is leading the way 
I'm pleasantly surprised 
Sometimes I mix some things 
With my water on occasion 

YOUR OWN LITTLE WORLD 
I think the spiders got those little green things 
That crawl into my closet 
I don't see them running 
They must have gravitated to their entrance at my house 
As they walked into that door
My closet doesn't save them 
But those green things eat off 
All the white-green mould growing on my clothes 
I pay the spiders 
I live inside their web 
They weave all round me 
I'm part of their world, I'm part of their world 
But I don't want to see 
The other members of the family 
They've got to go 
Hey, salamander

STICKS IN THE MARSH 
I got my things to do tomorrow 
There on the table 
They're in my new future 
Tomorrow is my purpose 
The sticks in the marsh 
As I wandered through 
That old abandoned house 
I stayed in overnight 
Yeah I stayed there overnight 
The old abandoned house 
I didn't care about all the dreams 
That went before me in that house
The water in the streams 
I put my feet in there 
I travelled day and night 
One change of clothing in my pack
And a blanket too 
I used the sun to find my way 
I looked to the man sun god 
My guidance on that earth 
To get to the place 
I saw on the map 
There is no God, God is everything 
It's all a picture we're painting on the street 
I got my walking shoes on

NO ONE KNOWS YOUR NAME 
Something got inside of me 
And started hurting me 
I just let it happen 
It's not too late 
I said why you hurting you 
No more, I'm over 
I can see it clear right now
Got to get it out of me 
Got to bleed my bad things 
Communicate all around 
Got to fire me up on juice 
And maybe go to water
Where are they now 
If I could be in a meadow
Granite rocks all around
Why I like the city 
No one knows your name 
So it's faraway 
Where the people don't play 
I got my demons strangled by the throat

IT RANG ELEVEN TIMES 
I programmed my abdomen 
I don't think about it anymore 
It doesn't tell me what to do 
I got the network to my nerves now
It's all so automatic 
I just command the boat 
Inside the house 
You can't chew well because 
It feels like a foreign object in your mouth 
Well screw my brains
I screwed yours 
Go take a jump off a cliff 
Yeah, just don't look down 
Splat, way down there
You're laughing so loudly 
You're sure a funny thing 
You can take all your laughter 
And scream at the night 
I'll never go with you I'm the one that's there