Just trolling...
This may be ragged as hell, coz it's been too long a time since I opined to prime a rhyme.
BREAKOUT
Prologue:
*Ringo's in my car
Singing Back To the USSR
While I'm trying to understand
What it means to be a man.
Ma's the only girl in sight
And brother just wants to fight
So it's gotten all too clear:
I gotta break outa here.
Playing French lessons over and over
Won't get me out the door,
But it's a little more show
Than replays on the radio.
Little Egypt coulda got me there,
But I just didn't play fair.
She fluffs her long brown hair
Spreadin' love all in my face,
And it's a heated race
To see if she or I
Can make the moon fly.
Then the Rocket Man rolls in.
Busted the globe so it won't spin,
So I scrub dirt from fingernails,
Grab the full-color atlas
And flip pages to the end.
I can see where I've been,
But destination's way outa sight.
Driving hard deep into night
On a road that keeps on going.
The only limits I can see
Are right in front of me,
But even that big ol' oak tree
Ain't gon' slow me down.
Back on the edge of town
Everybody got in my way.
But the mailman saved the day
With the ticket I never asked for.
Singin' "It's Johnny's Birthday"
I knew, I'd found the way.
Fly me to S.A.
And I'll turn it upside down.
The Man's got me now
But he's just scoring the tune.
It's his game, his due,
But I'm on my way to you.
Might get myself busted
Just smokin' a lil ree,
But my hinges are rusted
And I gotta break free...
Been halfway past the world
And got the scars to prove it,
But I'm rotting on the bone.
Then the man on the phone
Says can you see clear to go nuclear?
All I can say is show me the way.
From flyfishing on a winter day
To counting radiant corpses
On buses to the end of life:
It's not my strife,
But he says to me, Man what I've seen
Ain't fit for a horror-flick screen.
Watching Cossacks through the haze
I have not the slightest clue
As they shovel out her grave
How close I am to you.
But spins the merry-go-round.
Nursing whiplash in L.A. town,
Seger's silver bullet
Almost puts me in the ground.
Cheri's on the grind
And I'm about to lose my mind...
For a desperate year I pine,
Consider all I left behind,
But a Santeria drummer
In a fine Santana tune
Starts lighting up the room,
And I remember.
Half my life's a cinder
But it's not over yet.
Fiorinal and basketball
Save me from the thunderball
So I can heed the call
In the writing on the wall.
Another false start,
But now I can read the charts,
And a dozen 2-steps later
It's "See ya later alligator,
The yellow rose of Texas
Is refibrillatin' my name."
But it's not quite the same
And I'm fresh out of game,
And the kids are alright:
So one more time
I'm lost deep in the night,
And the end is still way out of sight...
Epilogue: Post-Traumatic Amnesia
As you lie here with me
I lose the memory
Of that last lonely night
Before you waltzed into my sight.
Play your heart on a string
And I'll break out and sing
Of how it came to me;
It's all about you, my destiny.
_____
* See Doug's note below regarding "Back In The USSR"