Line 'Em Up

(album: Hourglass - 1997)

I remember Richard Nixon back in '74 and the final scene at the White House door
and the staff lined up to say good-bye, tiny tear in his shifty little eye,
he said, "nobody knows me, nobody understands.
These little people were good to me, oh I'm gonna shake some hands."

Somebody line 'em up, line 'em all up, line 'em up, line 'em all up.
Somebody line 'em up, line 'em all up, line 'em up, line 'em all up.

At that time my heart was all broke, I looked like ashes and smelled like smoke
and I turned away from my loving kind, try to leave my body and live in my mind
but it's much too much emotion to hold it in your hand.
They've got waves out on the ocean, they're gonna wear away the land,

Somebody line 'em up, line 'em all up, line 'em up, line 'em all up.
Want you to line 'em up, line 'em all up, line 'em up, line 'em all up.

Oh, I've seen corn in Kansas and I've seen picket fences and certain cowboy dances.
I've gone lining up for shows, I've been safely placed in rows, sure I know how it goes.

Another day goes by, little time machine, I'm raking my brain over what it might mean
just to claim the time and to turn away, to make today today.
Who waits for you, lonely tired old toad?
It's your life laid out before you like the broken white line down the center of the road.

Line 'em up line 'em all up, line 'em up, line 'em all up.
Line 'em up, line 'em all up, line 'em up, line 'em all up.

Yeah, big moon landing, people are standing up,
smiles for the loved ones, they go walking on down the aisles.
Each re-engages stepping into the sun, I watch them turn like pages one by one by one,

Want you to line 'em up, line 'em all up, line 'em up, line 'em all up.
Line 'em up, line 'em all up, line 'em up, line 'em all up.

[Indecipherable French grunting]