Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Long Shadow lyrics

Long shadow

Well I'll tell you one thing that I know
You don't face you demons down
You got to grab 'em, jack 'em
And pin 'em to the ground

The devil may care -maybe god he won't
Better you make sure you check on
The do's and don'ts

Crawl up the mountain
To reach where the eagles fly
Sure you can't glimpse from the mountain top
Where the soul of the muse might rise

And if you put it all together
You won't have to look around
You know you cast a long shadow on the ground

And then one day I could tell my tracks
By the holes in the soles of my shoes
And that's the day I said
I'm gonna make the news
And falling back in the garden of days so long ago

Somewhere in the memory
The sun shines on you boy
Playing in the Arroyos
Where the American rivers flows
From the Appalachians
Down to the Delta roads

A man can thinks so long
His brain could well explode
There's trains runnin through the junctions
And king cottons down the road

And if you put it all together
You won't have to look around
You know you cast a long shadow on the ground

Listen to the country, the night jar and the bell
Listen to the the night streamliner
Sounding like the wolves of hell
Head for the water - the waters of the cleansing spell
It was always our destination on the express of the ner do wells
And we rock through Madison city
Man we didn't even know she was there
'til we hit the baffles in Memphis and Beale Street didn't have no prayer
I hear punks talk of anarchy - I hear hobos on the railroads
I hear mutterings on the chain gangs
It's those men who build the roads

And if you put it all together
You didn't even once relent
You cast a long shadow
And that is your testament

Somewhere in my soul
There's always Rock 'n' Roll.
Yeah.

Written by Joe Strummer and Smokey Hormel as a tribute to Johnny Cash, 2004