Keeping Time Lyrics

Why'd you go out east my boy?
Why'd you go out there?
Did your papa say that the time of day
Is only secondary to the price that you pay to know?
Oh no

And why'd you leave my back my boy?
I thought you was with me with me 'til the end
Why'd you leave my back my boy?
I thought that you was whisky and I was gin
Laid out on some bar together
Dusty eyed but getting better as each calendar goes
In the trash with the atlas and the maps
Of all the circles we drove
'Cause there ain't no one keeping time no more
But these assholes knocking on my door
Is that the cops or the devil or the goddamn Lord
Who knows?

I saw the federation flag
Doubled over like a dancer on her side
And when I called I called to tell you
That your favorite of the athletes had died
He offed his family and left nothing
But an orchid on the nightstand alive
Still you didn't pick me up but what the fuck
I figured why not try

'Cause there ain't a reason to be good my boy
Though I've seen others try in the past
There ain't a reason to be good my boy
Though I have seen others they've died for less
Horizontal on the prairie
Still as the snow and buried by the dark
While there's vampires on that altar
With their teeth inside the neck of my guitar

But there just ain't no one keeping time no more
So I got in my car and I drove
To the White House in my church clothes
Just to see if you were sleeping on the lawn
But all I found was freedom in a window
Blinking my name in neon (please keep it on)
I fell asleep myself you know
I was dreaming of the Tri-State and beyond
I had Lincoln looking over me saying
"Fuck it man I guess the golden days are gone"

'Cause there ain't no one keeping time no one
There ain't no one keeping time
The minister is knee-deep in wine
And who are you and I to go and argue with the Lord
After eighteen years of sleeping on his floor?
There ain't no one keeping time
Ain't nobody keeping mine
Ain't no one keeping time no more