Poetry Man

Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, 

 the son of man you have raised up for yourself.

~  Psalm 80

Rusted Root

 Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah 

will take root below and bear fruit above.

~  2 Kings 19

Black Cross

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, 

the God of Israel. 

There was no one like him 

among all the kings of Judah, 

either before him or after him.

~ 2 Kings 18

BLACK CROSS (HEZEKIAH JONES)
 Joseph S. Newman

Richard "Lord" Buckley

Bob Dylan

"Black Cross" was written in 1948 by Joseph S. Newman and published in a collection of poems entitled It Could Be Verse. The poem was recorded by Richard "Lord" Buckley live at the Ivar Theatre, Los Angeles, 1959 and released on Way Out Humor, World Pacific, 1959. Rereleased as Lord Buckley in Concert, Demon Verbals, 1985.

"Black Cross" was performed by Bob Dylan on the Minnesota Hotel Tape, Dec 1961 

This is the story of Hezekiah Jones...

Hezekiah Jones lived in a place... in Arkansas.
He never had too much, except he had some land,
An' he had a couple of hogs and things like that.
He never had much money
But he'd spend what he did make as fast as he made it,
So it never really mattered that he had much money.
But in a cupboard there, He kept in the cupboard... he kept in the cupboard books,
He called the books his "rainy season."

The white folks around the county there talked about Hezekiah...
They... said, "Well... old Hezekiah, he's harmless enough,
but the way I see it he better put down them goddam books,
Readin' ain't no good, for nigger is nigger."

One day the white man's preacher came around
Knockin' on doors, knockin' on all the doors in the county,
He knocked on Hezekiah's door.
He says, "Hezekiah, you believe in the Lord?"
Hezekiah says, "Well, I don't know, I never really SEEN the Lord,
I can't say, yes, I do..."

He says, "Hezekiah, you believe in the Church?"
Hezekiah says, "Well, the Church is divided, ain't they,
And... they can't make up their minds.
I'm just like them, I can't make up mine either."

He says, "Hezekiah, you believe that if a man is good Heaven is his last reward?"
Hezekiah says, "I'm good... good as my neighbor."

"You don't believe in nothin'," said the white man's preacher,
You don't believe in nothin'!"
"Oh yes, I do," says Hezekiah,
"I believe that a man should be indebted to his neighbors
Not for the reward of Heaven or fear of hellfire."

"But you don't understand," said the white man's preacher,
"There's a lot of good ways for a man to be wicked..."

Then they hung Hezekiah high as a pigeon.
White folks around there said, "Well... he had it comin'
'Cause the son-of-a-bitch never had no religion!"

She's a Business

 No Israelite man or woman 

is to become a shrine prostitute.

~  Deuteronomy 23

Mr. Jelly Lord

They demolished the sacred stone of Baal

 and tore down the temple of Baal, 

and people have used it for a latrine to this day.

~  2 Kings 10

How Blue Can You Get?

Be merciful to me, LORD, 

for I am in distress; 

 my eyes grow weak with sorrow, 

my soul and body with grief.

~  Psalm 31

BB King, Eric Clapton, Los Louisiana Gators
y varios maestros más:

"Mighty" Mack McTeer, vocals
Buster Blues, vocals
Cab Blues, vocals
Elwood J. Blues, vocals, blues harp
Steve "the Colonel" Cropper, guitar
Donald "Duck" Dunn, bass guitar
Anton Fig, drums
Birch "Crimson Slide" Johnson, trombone
Tom "Bones" Malone, trombone, saxophones
"Blue" Lou Marini, saxophones
Matt "Guitar" Murphy, guitar
Leon "The Lion" Pendarvis, keyboards
John Popper, blues harp
Steve Potts, drums
Alan "Mr. Fabulous" Rubin, trumpet
Paul "The Shiv" Shaffer, keyboards, producer
Prakash John, bass (John the Revelator)

Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues

 So he pretended to be insane in their presence...

~ 1 Samuel 21

 

Voodoo Woman

 While I was still searching but not finding

I found one upright man among a thousand, 

but not one upright woman among them all.

~  Ecclesiastes 7

The Foxes Of Billerica

 In life they were loved and admired,

 and in death they were not parted. 

They were swifter than eagles, 

 they were stronger than lions. 

~  2 Samuel 1

 "Someone You'd Admire"

By The Fleet Foxes

After all is said and done I feel the same
All that I hoped would change within me stayed
Like a huddled moon-lit exile on the shore
Warming his hands, a thousand years ago

I walk with others in the yearning to get out
Claw at my skin and gnash their teeth and shout
One of them wants only to be someone you'd admire
One would as soon just throw you on the fire

After all is said and after all is done
God only knows which of them I'll become

Pandora's Box

 The name written on her forehead was a mystery: 

BABYLON THE GREAT 

THE MOTHER OF WHORES 

AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH

~  Revelation 17