Dignity

Fat man looking in a blade of steel
Thin man looking at his last meal
Hollow man looking in a cotton field
For Dignity

Wise man looking in a blade of grass
Young man looking in the shadows that pass
Poor man looking through painted glass
For Dignity

Somebody got murdered on New Year's Eve
Someone said Dignity was the first to leave
I went into the city, into the town
Into the land of the midnight sun

Searching high, searching low
Searching everywhere I know
Asking the cops wherever I go
Have you seen Dignity?

Blind man breaking out of a trance
Puts both his hands in the pockets of chance
Hoping to find one circumstance
Of Dignity

I went to the wedding of Marylou
She said "I don't want nobody see me talking to you"
She could get killed if she told me what she knew
About Dignity

I went down where the vultures feed
I would've got deeper, but there wasn't any need
I heard the tongues of angels and the tongues of men
And there wasn't any difference to me

Chilly wind sharp as a razor blade
House on fire, debts unpaid
Gonna stand at the window, gonna ask the maid
Have you seen Dignity?

Drinking man listens to the voice he hears
In a crowded room full of covered up mirrors
Looking into the lost forgotten years
For Dignity

I met Prince Phillip at the home of the blues
Said he'd give me information if his name wasn't used
He wanted money up front, he said he'd been abused
By Dignity

Footprints running cross the sliver sand
Steps going down into tattoo land
I met the sons of darkness and the sons of light
In the border towns of despair

Got no place to fade, got no coat
I'm on a rolling river in a jerking boat
Trying to read a note to me somebody wrote
About Dignity

Sick man looking for the doctor's cure
Looking at his hands for the lines that were
And into every masterpiece of literature
For Dignity

Englishman stranded in the black heart wind
Combing his hair back, his future looks thin
He bites the bullet and he looks within
For Dignity

Someone showed me a picture, I just had to laugh
Dignity never been photographed
I went into the red, went into the black
Went into the valley of dry bone dreams

So many roads, so much at stake
So many dead ends, I'm at the edge of the lake
Sometimes I wonder what it's gonna take
To find dignity