Nobody's Man

Beneath the trees of the casbah

Beneath the roots of those trees

On the casket floor

On the casket floor

Bottom of me, it feels so complete

Around my childhood museums

There stand chinese guards

One of them has a bell

One of them has a bell

Who rings when I come too close or leave too far

You might say that it's reckless, you might say that it's wild

But I'd rather be nobody's man than somebody's child

Now there's splinters in my fingers

And there's portland cement in my lungs

I got a hammer and a cough

I got a hammer and a cough and

All of my friends speak in foreign tongues

There's an ugliness growing up inside me

From where it has come I don't know

I left my sweetness beside

My sweetness beside

That girl I goodbyed long ago

They might find my body at the bottom of the pile

But I'd rather be nobody's man than somebody's child

Such plans they have, such gods they have

Deep in this nation of heat

We've been outdone again

We've been outdone again and

All of my friends they walk on their feet

And a congress of jackals will put a tax on my smile

But I'd rather be nobody's man than somebody's child

I might move to las vegas, live there for a while

'Cause I'd rather be nobody's, nobody's, nobody's

Yes I'd rather be nobody's man than somebody's child