Click the links below to hear a clip from each song
Alligator Shoes
I started out as a shoeshine boy, when I was three I had no shoes, sure no toys
No birthday cakes, no Sunday breaks, I was fast, I was
lean, I was smart, I was clean.
I shined all the wise guys on the take, oh… what my eyes have seen,
You get obsolete when all you got is mean, and you're always on the make.
A kid singing for supper, make no mistake, my favorite animal was a steak.
By the time I was twelve I knew I had protection, I was part of some kind of selection.
I paid interest with plenty of dues, oh… what my eyes
have seen,
You get obsolete when all you got is green, I'm a shoe shine boy with alligator shoes.
By God's grace, I've grown older, check out the music, I've grown bolder
The producers are looking for the hook they hope, go ahead and figure, they can't sing a note
Alligator shoes on a shoe shine boy, oh… what my eyes have seen,
You get obsolete like some old magazine, hopelessness, bats, mascara & noise.
You think you'll up and walk out your grave, you want a hook, how 'bout “Jesus Saves”?
The Man paid your bill, there ain't no fee, as close to a cure for dying you'll ever see.
A shoe shine boy, long time since I's a teen, oh… what my eyes have seen,
You get obsolete no way you're gonna lick it. That man is gonna punch your ticket.
ã 2000 Elisandro R. Toscano
Bathsheba Blues
Blessed is the man whose crimes are forgiven,
Whose evil ways are hidden.
Blessed is the man that God gives a clean slate,
Whose spirit is not denial and lies.
When I hid my crimes, oh my body,
Wasted away
Groaning in pain the livelong day, now
Moaning in pain all day.
Chorus:
Day and night the hand of God crushed the life out of me.
Out of me, out of me, yeah, yeah.
I confessed my crimes before God Almighty,
All night long I cried.
Evil ways I couldn't stand it, running is no use, now,
Nowhere to hide.
I confessed my evil before God Almighty,
Bitter tears in my pillow, no peace, no sleep, no lie.
I confessed my ways on the killing floor,
(He) forgave me my evil ways.
Chorus:
Day and night the hand of God crushed the life out of me.
Out of me, out of me, yeah, yeah.
Bridge:
Blues bled my soul like a fever in high summer heat.
Now listen:
Let any child who's lost his way pray in time,
And plead that lonesome sound.
Lord God find me and make me to, ooh,
Make me to be found, make me to be found, oh,
Though the levee breaks and the flood comes to drown,
Those waters won't touch me or approach my side
No, they won't approach my side, yeah,
Oh, oh yeah.
The Lord talked to me, yes He did,
And this is what He said, lo,
I'll explain everything and show you from here on out
The way you
ought to go.
My wisdom is yours and surely it is true,
It is true love too.
God loves so much He couldn't take His eyes off of,
Off of me and you.
Chorus:
Day and night the hand of God crushed the life out of me.
Out of me, out of me, yeah, yeah.
Bridge:
The blues bled my soul like a fever in high summer heat
The blues bled my soul like a fever in high summer heat.
Outro:
The glory of His ways, the glory of His ways. [repeat]
ã 2000 Elisandro R. Toscano
Blood Simple
People think about life and how,
Your dreams have escaped & now,
Working your finger to the bones,
You're holding on to hearth & home,
I watch you cry or go insane,
Your love's in vain, love in vain.
Your life is burning up, Lord,
You could use a little rain.
Loyalty to things old & cold,
Your heart's just a bleeding hole.
It's so empty, without love,
Nothing left, but run for cover.
Your soul is cooked, you're already dead,
That's what God Almighty said,
Take that fall, kick your pride right outa your head.
Tears of joy will fill your eyes,
Your tragic past, a blessing in disguise.
Your life's sad altar now expired,
It's burning up, a funeral pyre.
God grants salvation, yeah, it's totally free,
You got doubts, yet don't you see,
He paid your debt,
Hung on a bloody tree.
Chorus:
Surrender to a Holy Wind and the river's rush
Blood simple, a love so real, a love so lush.
So close you can reach out & touch,
What you'd be giving up ain't really that much,
Surrender to a Holy Wind and a love so lush.
A love so lush
Blood simple.
ã
2000 Elisandro R. Toscano
Fool's Paradise
Footsteps on a road that ain't on no map
Day in and day out, just a walkin' stick's tap
I'm just a hobo who can't look back
An old hound dog and a gunny sack.
Sweet rain falls from heaven, the thirsty ground is set
I try and run for cover, but all I get is wet.
Come Monday thru Friday, Saturday or Sunday,
My life got no loss or gain,
I'd shoot myself but I got no aim.
It's a sad day in Eden, a sad day has fallen,
When ev'rything is possible, and nothing is calling.
God is in His heaven and all is right in His domain.
Wide awake or sleeping, oh life for me is such a pain.
Doomed to wander, in a dream asleep or not,
Moving here or there, is all I got.
Killing off my life, day by day,
I got the mark of Cain, still falling all the way.
Ev'rywhere I go, there's a demon in my gunny sack,
He tells me life is better, up the road & cross the tracks.
The back side of nowhere, just beyond the river bend,
'Nother roll of the dice, you'll have money to spend.
He's lonely as a grave, just like me
And just like me, he's bad company.
I know he's a lyin' wind, trouble's all he gave
He's a pitiful fool, and one of us is a slave.
Chorus:
Oh Christ, truth be told
I'm livin' in a fool's paradise.
Oh Christ, I ain't lyin'
I'm livin' in a fool's paradise.
Hambone Deacons
Captives in chains, the hot crack of the lash
Souls of men for rum, sugar & guns
Black music set a fire, can you hear it now?
Chorus:
Don't need no reasons, we the hambone deacons.
Boom chaka, boom chaka,
Living free in the garden of creation.
Rufus was stole without a fight
From his own in the African night.
A living cargo brought by evil means
Welcome brother to the Port of New Orleans.
Bones melted to a sea of blood & tears
Home forever lost, crying pain & fear.
Southern hospitality with cold hard cash.
Slave trader, heart as dark as caves
Gentlemen savages made men into slaves.
Planting seeds in a nation of blood
Retribution coming like a flood.
A melody remembered from a dream
A prophecy of blues & jazz it seemed.
Sold into bondage by black kings of the sun
Boss man makes sure plenty abounds
But for slaves jus' king cotton all around.
In church Moses says “Let people free”
But escape is bloodhounds and a run to the sea.
Pounding out the old songs in a new scene
Beat back Canaan with a gospel tambourine.
Burning Canaan's rotten timbers down.
God's gonna tear it down, make it all new
Where sweet music calls & love is the cue.
Looks like a softball turned out to be a curve
Choose this day, who you gonna serve.
Well shut yo' mouth, man what a load
Boom chaka doo wop turned out to be a code.
Kings & queens slavin' on the plantation,
Out of this Rufus bred a nation.
False gods they got they soul by the tail,
Boom chaka, boom chaka,
Chaka laka boom chaka,
Tote that bail.
Chaka laka boom chaka,
Tote that bail
ã
2000 Elisandro R. Toscano
Left Behind in the Late Great
Ancient foes are coming to your town soon,
Roaring on down, thundering galloping ghosts
Rough riders on their way, … singing an evil tune.
Prepare your table, you're the chosen host
Hell's angels will be having you howling at the moon.
And by the way you and yours are also the roast.
Left behind in the late great used to be, what was their names ?
Such a shame, everybody's fault, even yours, and nobody to blame.
It'll come to pass, it is written, a world in flames, and bitter tears,
Deny your fear and don't believe, only if you got no eyes and ears, no eyes and ears.
Hide your women and children Israel, deep in the desert fast.
Pain and misery, dust and ash, left behind is truly worse than bad.
Home and heart, all things end, nothing ever lasts.
Too late, out of time, the wind will take what you used to had.
Rough riders of the apocalypse come to crush and pound,
Real hell's angels are coming, can you hear that fearful sound?
Left behind in the late great used to be, what was their names?
Such a shame, everybody's fault even yours and nobody to blame,
It'll come to pass, it is written, a world in flames, and bitter tears.
Deny your fear and don't believe, only if you got no eyes and ears, no eyes and ears.
I hear the watchman blowing that horn, escape while you can.
Men on the chessboard promise you peace on earth peace by design.
Uninvited guest sez he's got the final plan,…he's the man of sin,
So who gets the oil or a real big blast, to Kingdom come, can you see the signs?
Truth be told, all the powers want to win.
Your house of cards, is already crashed.
Blood on the moon, hope is all but smashed.
Left behind in the late great used to be what was their names?
Such a shame, everybody's fault, even yours, and nobody to blame.
It'll come to pass, it is written, a world in flames, and bitter tears,
Deny your fear and don't believe, only if you got no eyes and ears, no eyes and ears.
Son House sang about John the Revelator who wrote the stories end, God's word.
Turned out it was all really true, real reality is the Word is a Sword.
Yeah, John the Revelator wrote the book of seven seals 'bout all who are dammed or saved.
The devil's time is short and he's a coming down to earth in a fury.
This time it's not just the Jew, maybe this time, it's you too.
He can't touch the little sisters and brothers blue
whose names are writ large in the book of life, without human jury.
All they need is Jesus' love, He paid the price true.
That story 'bout His blood sacrifice forgives your sins, for you know not what you do.
'Cause that cross of Calvary that's was a really the toughest ride just for you.
Everyone wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die.
Time's up in the valley of decision, God knows you could just cry,
If you can believe one thing about Jesus
He never lied.
He never lied.
Jesus he never lied.
ã 2000 Elisandro R. Toscano
Lion of Judah
I'm a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief,
These are your bloody nails through my hands and feet.
I'm a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief,
Bridge:
I'm a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief,
I took your sin,
ã
2000 Elisandro R. Toscano
My heartbeat like a drum made of melting candle wax.
My thirst is greater than any man can bear,
I'm dry as desert sand; I've become the dust of death.
I bore your sins, you hungry wolves, despite your disbelief.
I took your place, I cleared your name, I went to the grave and I took your sin,
Went to the grave, where you should have been.
Your soldiers took me and hung me on a tree.
They gambled for my robe, yeah, they spit on me.
I died naked, died naked, so that you could be free.
I bore your sins you hungry wolves, despite your disbelief.
I took your place, I cleared your name, I went to the grave and I took your sin,
Went to the grave, where you should have been.
My love was so strong
Death couldn't hold Me long
I broke out, you see
To keep you close to Me.
I bore your sins, you hungry wolves, despite your disbelief.
I took your place, I cleared your name, I went to the grave and I took your sin,
Went to the grave, where you should have been.
I'm a man of sorrow and I took your sin.
Must Be Love
Have you seen the way she looks at me?
Have you seen the way he looks at me?
Have you seen the way she looks at me?
Have you seen the way they stare? They stare? Yeah.
Have you seen the way they look at her?
Have you seen the way they look at him?
Have you seen the way they look at me?
Have you seen the way they stare? They stare? Yeah.
Chorus:
It must be love, it must be love,
The love of God in my…
It must be love, it must be love
The love of God in my heart.
Looking for someone or something,
That hole in their heart is more than they can bear.
Have you seen them stare?
It must be love, must be love,
The love of God in my…
It must be love, it must be love
The love of God in my heart.
Passover Otherside Crossroad Blues
Faithless life's a living grave; they're chiseling your tombstone.
Your only hope comes from He who made you; it's your only prayer you see.
Chorus:
Stop wasting time, stop wasting love.
Spoken:
ã
2000 Elisandro R. Toscano
About love, and heartache, you ended up a damned fool.
You keep your pain in seclusion, loneliness for sure.
You can't live an illusion, got to take the cure.
Knees of water, feet of clay, will be a forgotten box of bones.
Old news in a graveyard that is never ever full.
Give it up fool, feel the heat, don't it sure got a pull?
He stands by a promise, a written Word, an eternal guarantee.
Messiah paid the bill, for your selfish heart, with His own life lost.
His blood for yours, was the Passover Man's cost on a Roman cross.
Stop wasting time on your pride and its grand designs.
Stop wasting love, insanity's at your side. Nothin's ever fine.
Down on the killing floor, reap what you sow, it's crossroads time.
Knockin' on heaven's door, God don't sleep and He don't mind.
You'll find hell's a real hot terminator; damned place even has an escalator.
It ain't nothing to you, 'less it's nothing to you…
Rivers of Babylon
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and we wept when we remembered Zion,
Hung our lyres on the willows in its midst.
Those who carried us away captive required of us a song.
How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?
Those who persecuted us say “Sing us a song, a song of Zion,”
Ought to be good for a laugh”.
How we gonna sing a happy song when we're under your thumb,
How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?
Chorus:
If I forget you Yerushalyim
Let my right hand forget her cunning,
Let my tongue cleave to the top of my mouth,
If I do not set Yerushalyim above my highest joy.
Free verse translation
ã 2000 Elisandro R. Toscano
Shiloh's Cup
Shiloh was hung on a tree where he died only to live.
Chorus:
He made us free…
Blessed son of a seventh son, shout it from the rafters.
But he almost died for love, 'cept for a bit of luck
In the end it was Shiloh that drank that bloody cup.
Shiloh had the keys to the kingdom of heaven,
His promises were given to the chosen people,
The sons of Israel, one come eleven,
His sign rising above, every church steeple.
That bloody cup, He drained it without fear.
The greatest love was His to give;
Paid your way to heaven with His dying and His tears.
Shiloh came down from eternity above,
He was the messenger of God's most excellent love.
Almighty God made us, you and me,
God Almighty made things good,
Shiloh made us free.
The Way
The levee breaks in a pounding rain, muddy floods come to drown,
You're trapped in your ancient fears and everlasting pain.
Chorus:
God talks to me like Abraham, I Am that I Am,
ã
2000 Elisandro R. Toscano
Then I groaned in pain all the livelong day.
Day and night the hand of God laid heavy upon me,
Blues bled my soul like a fever 'til I could not see.
God reaches out His arms, gives me a safe place to lay down.
Those waters won't touch me, God keeps me high & dry,
So we'll sing a song of deliverance, for sure, that ain't no lie.
You cry bitter salty tears, God weeps sweetwater rain,
Wears down your stony heart, way down deep inside,
He plants a love that never dies, and always will abide.
God talks to me like Abraham, I Am that I Am,
I Am the voice in the burning bush, that is right-ta.
I Am the Way, I Am the Light-ta.
We're all going to the promised land, 'cause I Am The Man.
Yes, I Am the Man.
I Am the voice in the burning bush, that is right-ta.
I Am the Way, I Am the Light-ta.
