02 - River of Madness (Translucent Blues 2011)

Lyrics: Stephen Gordon/ David Glonfrido/ Sterlie Orphan Publishing/ Warren Zevon
Music: Roy Rogers

Benny's outa luck - he should be robbin' banks
He oughta get out now and hail a cab-instead of drownin' at Musso and Franks
He's out to settle up a 10 year tab - the scores are tallied and the plans are laid
Along Las Palmas on a windy night-he motions to the neon-shade
Who's got some thoughts on how to set him right-all the pieces of his splintered soul
toast to every hungry trigger man - every hanger-on that lost control

There's a river of madness runnin' thru LA
There's a river of sadness deep inside the clay
There's a river of longing through
Another dahlia slips away
There's a river of need -a river of fright
Wide enough to drown the city of angels / tonight…

Up on the canyon rim-that's where the wind blows free
Past the bruise-eyed Cienega queens-there's a gentleman for Ben to see
He honks at the packs of phony Jimmy Deans- drinkin' [bad word] of revenge and fear
Salty air and someone's chic perfume-December's killing everywhere but not here
In this garden of impending doom-the Angel City's so sick arid strong
Ben takes the nod to be the muscle man-but don't get caught where you don't belong

He didn't see the steel- he didn't feel the flash
The vision started to undo-he was headed for a dying crash
He saw the web tying every two-bit-fool-with sparkling eyes and crumbling dreams
From River Phoenix dying on a city street
To the oblivion that swallowed Lady Norma Jean
For everyone discovered there's a thousand lost-pith's a hoax and blind ambition saves
Freedom is the pearl to win at any cost-it's only measured by the marble graves