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A flea can trouble a lion more than the lion can harm a flea.

Kenyan proverbs
Added by Lucian Velea
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Trouble

No attorneys
To plead my case
No orbits
To send me into outta space
And my fingers
Are bejeweled
With diamonds and gold
But that ain't gonna help me now
I'm trouble
Yeah trouble now
I'm trouble ya'll
I disturb my town
I'm trouble
Yeah trouble now
I'm trouble ya'll
I got trouble in my town
You think your right
But you were wrong
You tried to take me
But I knew all along
You can take me
For a ride
I'm not a fool out
So you better run and hide
I'm trouble
Yeah trouble now
I'm trouble ya'll
I got trouble in my town
I'm trouble
Yeah trouble now
I'm trouble ya'll
I got trouble in my town
If you see me coming
Down the street then
You know it's time to
Go (and you know it's time to go
cause here comes trouble)
No attorneys
To plead my case
No orbits
To send me into outta space
And my fingers
Are bejeweled
With diamonds and gold
But that ain't gonna help me now
You think your right
But you were wrong
You tried to take me
But I knew all along
You can take me

[...] Read more

song performed by Pink
Added by Lucian Velea
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Trouble

Trouble in the city, trouble in the farm,
You got your rabbits foot, you got your good-luck charm.
But they cant help you none when theres trouble.
Trouble,
Trouble, trouble, trouble,
Nothin but trouble.
Trouble in the water, trouble in the air,
Go all the way to the other side of the world, youll find trouble there.
Revolution even aint no solution for trouble.
Trouble,
Trouble, trouble, trouble,
Nothin but trouble.
Drought and starvation, packaging of the soul,
Persecution, execution, governments out of control.
You can see the writing on the wall inviting trouble.
Trouble,
Trouble, trouble, trouble,
Nothin but trouble.
Put your ear to the train tracks, put your ear to the ground,
You ever feel like youre never alone even when theres nobody else around?
Since the beginning of the universe mans been cursed by trouble.
Trouble,
Trouble, trouble, trouble,
Nothin but trouble.
Nightclubs of the broken-hearted, stadiums of the damned,
Legislature, perverted nature, doors that are rudely slammed.
Look into infinity, all you see is trouble.
Trouble,
Trouble, trouble, trouble,
Nothin but trouble.

song performed by Bob Dylan
Added by Lucian Velea
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Leave It Open

With my ego in my gut,
My babbling mouth would wash it up.
(but now Ive started learning how,)
I keep it shut.
My door was never locked,
Until one day a trigger come cocking.
(but now Ive started learning how,)
I keep it shut.
Wide eyes would clean and dust
Things that decay, things that rust.
(but now Ive started learning how,)
I keep em shut.
I keep em shut.
Harm is in us.
Harm is in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
(leave it open!)
Harm is in us, but power to arm.
Narrow mind would persecute it,
Die a little to get to it.
(but now Ive started learning how.)
I leave it open.
I kept it in a cage,
Watched it weeping, but I made it stay.
(but now Ive started learning how.)
I leave it open.
I leave it open.
Harm is in us.
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
(leave it open!)
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
(leave it open!)
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
Har in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us!
Harm is in us!
Harm is in us!
Harm is in us!
Harm is in us!

[...] Read more

song performed by Kate Bush
Added by Lucian Velea
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No More Trouble (feat. Erykah Badu)

[Bob Marley]
(We don't need) No, we don't need (no more trouble) no more trouble!
(We don't need no more trouble)
Wo! Oh-oh-oh!
(We don't need) We don't need no (no more) trouble!
We don't need no trouble!
(We don't need no more trouble)
Make love and not war! 'Cause we don't need no trouble.
What we need is love (love)
To guide and protect us on. (on)
If you hope good down from above, (love)
Help the weak if you are strong now. (love)
We don't need no trouble;
What we need is love. Oh, no!
We don't need - we don't need - no more trouble!
Lord knows, we don't need no trouble!
(We don't need) We don't need trouble (no more trouble) -
no more trouble - no more trouble!
Seek happiness! (...) Oh, ...!
Come on, you all and speak of love. (...) Oh, yeah!
We don't need no trouble;
What we need is love, now. (What we need is love!)
(We don't need) Oh, we don't need no more trouble!
We don't need, no - we don't need no trouble!
We don't (need) - no, brothers and sisters ... (no more trouble!)
We don't need no trouble; we don't need no trouble!
We don't need no trouble!
What we need is love!
We don't need - we don't need no more - we don't need -
no more trouble - we don't need no more trouble!
Trouble we don't need (we don't need),
(We don't need) Lord, knows! -
we don't need no more war (no more trouble).
No more trouble - we don't need no more - more trouble! /fadeout/

song performed by Bob Marley
Added by Lucian Velea
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Trouble

I got a letter in the mail sayin' I'm gonna go to jail
Someone's got an axe
Lookin' it out for me
Well I was feelin' pretty nice didn't have to think twice
Finders keepers baby, keep it away from me
You got nothin' that I need
Stay away from me
I'll quicken your pace to heaven
You try to give me your lot
Well I hope you rot
Gonna tell the devil about you
You're gettin' me in trouble
You're gettin' me in trou...
Gettin' me in trouble
Every day and night
I'm alright
Well I'm a high speed king I never think about a thing
All I can do is moan
Everybody takes a turn from the trash I have learned
But why the hard way for me, I don't know
I'm gonna get you back
Stab you in the fat
I'll make you wish you never met me
I gonna make you sing the blues
You're gonna lose
Show you what you got yourself into
You're gettin' me in trouble
You're Gettin' me in trouble
Gettin' me in trouble
Every day and night
I'm all...
You try to put the weight of the world
On top of my shoulders
You got to know that you're a little girl
Who wants to feel older, feel older (watch out)
Trouble, yeah
Trouble, yeah yeah
I'm in trouble baby (oh yeah)
You're gettin' me in trouble
Gettin' me in trouble
Gettin' me in trouble
Every day and night
I'm in trouble, trouble, trouble (alright)
I'm in trouble, trouble, trouble
Trouble, trouble, trouble
Trouble, trouble, trouble

song performed by Quiet Riot
Added by Lucian Velea
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Trouble

Trouble came around here
Here in the south we fix something to eat
Steam risin up off the greenery
And we welcome the strangers we meet
Alien sick growing in these walls
Like moss in a crack that time made
I brush a guy in the airport
Whistling its a small world after all
And the prices are higher
But the kids still selling lemonade
Get to the point of it
(get to the point of it)
Get to the sense of it
(get to the sense of it)
Im in a hurry
To get through it
I am in trouble
(I am in trouble)
I am in trouble
(I am in trouble)
A hurricane flag flappin in a bad storm
Same color of the spider underneath my nail that bit me in my dream
And who would take out the dominican republic
And send gods sweet children floating down a poison stream
A secret society of conference rooms
I pledge my allegiance to the dollar
And when the clergy take a vote oh the gays will pay again
Yeah cause theres more than one kind of criminal white collar
So get to the point of it
(get to the point of it)
Get to the sense of it
(get to the sense of it)
Im in a hurry to get through it
One day the war will stop
And well grow a peaceful crop
And a girl can get a wife
And we can bring you back to life
Sacks of flour and rice or poker chips
Greasy palms or systems underhanding
(...shelter...)
And maybe well take a walk on pluto
Yeah but be no closer to the understanding
(...what I wish...)
Get to the point of it
(get to the point of it)
Get to the sense of it
(get to the sense of it)
Im in a hurry to get through it
Yeah
I am in trouble

[...] Read more

song performed by Indigo Girls
Added by Lucian Velea
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GOD's Elephant - Beating Back The Lion...

GOD Pulled The Lion’s Teeth
GOD Crushed The Lion’s Claws
GOD Took The Lion’s Roar
… and made it very small

GOD Tore Off The Lion’s Tail
GOD Cut The Lion’s Mane
‘Til The Lion’s Voracious Voice
Became Lame and Tamed … and Shamed

Because That Lion Was A Coward
That Crazed Lion Was A Bully
Looking Only For The Weak
To Feast On Them Fully

Not Because It Was Hungry
Not Because It Was In Need
Terror Became Its Creed
Because Its Favorite Taste … Was Greed

It Was The Nature Of That Beast
To Be The Enemy Of My Peace
But GOD Changed Me Into An Elephant
When GOD Saw Me On My Knees

That Lion Chose Me As Victim
It Thought I’d Be Irrelevant
Because It Had No Idea …
I’d Become GOD’ Elephant

… I Am One Of GOD’s Messengers
Hear Me Trumpet HIS Sound
See How Christian Courage Charge
and Shake Lions Underground

See My Ivory Tusks Of Hope
Raised High In Silhouette Moonlight
Gleaming As I Spoke
My Prayers Thru Every Night

See My Ears So Huge To Cool
Fiery Heat That Must Come
Caressing My Full Faith Form
As Heart Beats A Thunder-Drum

GOD Gave Me Wings Of The Wind
GOD Gave Me Echoes Of The Sea
Gave Me A Stand Like A Snowcapped Mountain
And A Trunk Like A Baobab Tree

[...] Read more

poem by MoonBee Canady
Added by Poetry Lover
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The Fee

This tree has no trouble
And I have no trouble.

I have no trouble
With this trouble-free tree.

This trouble-free tree
has no trouble
With a trouble-free me.

This trouble-free tree
has no trouble. This tree
has no trouble.

And I have no trouble
With a trouble-free me.

But were I to be free
Of a trouble-free me,
This trouble-free tree
Spells trouble for me.

Were this tree to be free
Of this trouble-free tree,
There might even be
A real trouble-spree.

This is to say, “See,
Trouble exacts a fee:
A price (in fact) to see
This trouble-free tree.”

[5-23-07 Berkeley]

poem by David Floren
Added by Poetry Lover
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Double Trouble

They got a line on you,
Little bit of trouble too,
You got, some jets inside,
Cherry lips, and delirious eyes.
You get in trouble,
And it keeps you down,
Double trouble.
You get in trouble,
And you come to town,
Double trouble,
Oh yea
They better chain your hands,
And you, spread some evil,
Pick and pan.
Hey, you sure got,
Some jets inside,
But you got a little,
With those empty eyes
You get in trouble,
And it keeps you down,
Double trouble,
You get in trouble
And you come to town,
Double trouble,
Oh yea
Youve got (got),
Some jets inside,
Baby, broken promises,
Broken pride
You get in trouble
And it keeps you down,
Double trouble.
You get in trouble,
And you come to town,
Double trouble,
Oh yeah,
You got some trouble,
(double trouble)
And it keeps you down,
Double trouble,
You get in trouble,
And you come to town
Double trouble,
That double trouble,
Oh yeah.

song performed by Cars
Added by Lucian Velea
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VII. Pompilia

I am just seventeen years and five months old,
And, if I lived one day more, three full weeks;
'T is writ so in the church's register,
Lorenzo in Lucina, all my names
At length, so many names for one poor child,
—Francesca Camilla Vittoria Angela
Pompilia Comparini,—laughable!
Also 't is writ that I was married there
Four years ago: and they will add, I hope,
When they insert my death, a word or two,—
Omitting all about the mode of death,—
This, in its place, this which one cares to know,
That I had been a mother of a son
Exactly two weeks. It will be through grace
O' the Curate, not through any claim I have;
Because the boy was born at, so baptized
Close to, the Villa, in the proper church:
A pretty church, I say no word against,
Yet stranger-like,—while this Lorenzo seems
My own particular place, I always say.
I used to wonder, when I stood scarce high
As the bed here, what the marble lion meant,
With half his body rushing from the wall,
Eating the figure of a prostrate man—
(To the right, it is, of entry by the door)
An ominous sign to one baptized like me,
Married, and to be buried there, I hope.
And they should add, to have my life complete,
He is a boy and Gaetan by name—
Gaetano, for a reason,—if the friar
Don Celestine will ask this grace for me
Of Curate Ottoboni: he it was
Baptized me: he remembers my whole life
As I do his grey hair.

All these few things
I know are true,—will you remember them?
Because time flies. The surgeon cared for me,
To count my wounds,—twenty-two dagger-wounds,
Five deadly, but I do not suffer much—
Or too much pain,—and am to die to-night.

Oh how good God is that my babe was born,
—Better than born, baptized and hid away
Before this happened, safe from being hurt!
That had been sin God could not well forgive:
He was too young to smile and save himself.
When they took two days after he was born,
My babe away from me to be baptized
And hidden awhile, for fear his foe should find,—

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Trouble

I only know you by reputation
It's time I found out face to face
'cause if your sugar, I'll fight temptation
But if you're poison, I need a taste
(1st Chorus)
Girl, I heard you're Trouble with a capital "T"
One look in your eye spells trouble to me
We're talkin' danger, just too blind to see
You're Trouble just waitin' to happen to me!...Trouble...I'm talkin' Trouble!
I'm not the first, no, I've got to face it
But I ain't the last to take the bait
A silver spoon hangs on your bracelet
T-R-B-L on your license plate
(2nd chorus)
Girl, I heard you're Trouble with a capital "T"
I'm new here in town, come on and spell it out for me
We're talkin bad news, I been too blind to see
You're Trouble just waitin' to happen to me!.......Trouble.....
...you're gettin closer, baby
....I see Trouble..
....Trouble's comin over me....
...Yeah, with a capital "T"
T-R-O-U-B-L-E...it's Trouble!
I only know you by reputation
It's time I found out, baby, face to face
'cause if your sugar, I'll fight temptation
But if you're poison, I need a little taste
Tell me, baby, how bad is bad
How mad is mad
Girl, are you all that they say
Yeah, just one touch, is a touch too much
Just one hit goes straight to my head
(3rd Chorus)
Girl, I heard you're Trouble with a capital "T"
One look in your eye spells trouble to me
We're talkin' bad news, I been too blind to see
You're Trouble just waitin' to happen to me!...
We're talkin Trouble...
Bad news....(...yes I'm a victim)
Oh, you're Trouble just happens to me...(here she comes!)

song performed by 38 Special
Added by Lucian Velea
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No More Trouble

Artist: erykah badu and bob marley
*news coverage at the beginning*
[all]
We dont need no more trouble
We dont need no more trouble
[erykah]
What we need is love (love)
To guide and protect us all (all)
If you hope good down from above (love)
Help the weak if you are strong now (strong)
[bob]
We dont need no trouble
What we need is love
[all]
We dont need no more trouble
We dont need no more trouble
[erykah]
Weeping for the living
Weeping for the dead
Weep for one another
Weep for happiness
Weeping for the struggle
Weeping for the pain
Weeping for the children
We must take the blame
[bob]
Seek happiness
(its sad enough without your foes)
Come on, you all and speak of love
(its sad enough without your foes)
We dont need no trouble
What we need is love now
(what we need is love, sweet love)
[all]
We dont need no more trouble
We dont need no more trouble
[erykah]
Now end the war which you just begun
Its sad enough without your foes
I thought I told you not to mess with me
Dont want no trouble but trouble found me
But marley saying speak of love not war
But we be trying but then eh we dont
[bob]
Oh we dont need no trouble
We dont need no trouble
[all]
We dont need no more trouble
We dont need no more trouble
(make love and not war cause we dont need no trouble)

[...] Read more

song performed by Erykah Badu
Added by Lucian Velea
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Trouble You Cant Fool Me

(f. knight/a. varnell)
(c) - (f) - (g)
(c) trouble you cant fool me (f) I see you behind that tree
(c) trouble you cant fool me (g) trying to get the ups on me
(c) trouble you cant fool me (f) I see you behind that tree
(c) you want to (f) jump (g) on (c) me
Work hard for living, wanted just to get paid
But, sured be stealing for a year and a day
Would like to see a little sunshine, just to guide my way
Would like to have a little peace of mind
Thats why I wanna say you better look out !
Trouble you cant fool me I see you behind that tree
Look out! trouble you cant fool me trying to get the ups on me
Trouble you cant fool me I see you behind that tree
You want to jump on me
Trouble taught me a lesson I never never will forget
Now, he took my love, she aint paid it back yet
I had to find another just to take her place
And I sure do love her, I said were doing ok
So look out!
Trouble you cant fool me I see you behind that tree
Look out! trouble you cant fool me trying to get the ups on me
Trouble you cant fool me I see you behind that tree
You want to jump on me
Well, you know, everyday cant be sunday [thats right!]
Its a funny thing, it seem just before daylight is your darkest hour
And you know one thing [whats that ? ] behind every silver lining, there isnt a dark cloud
[and you just aint got time to go round subtracting and adding cause youll just be too late]
You know one thing ? [whats that ? ]
Every time you get around a tree, you better stop and grab a brick [why ? ]
Old man trouble... laying and waiting on you
Thats what I wanna say...
Trouble you cant fool me I see you behind that tree
Look out! trouble you cant fool me trying to get the ups on me
Trouble you cant fool me I see you behind that tree
You want to jump on me
Trouble took my money, cadillacs gone
Best suit of clothes, all raised up in the closet, oh lord
But Im so glad
Trouble dont last ...always
You cant fool me

song performed by Ry Cooder
Added by Lucian Velea
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No Trouble Gets Trouble

No trouble gets trouble,
And there's no reason to go 'oops'.
Or feel bruised when booted.

No trouble gets trouble,
And there's no reason to go 'oops'.
Or feel out of the loop.

Keep in mind...
One gets what they find.
Not looking for a quality,
But a good time.

If one,
Wants to date someone fine...
To wine and dine,
That line has to be baited.

No trouble gets trouble,
And there's no reason to go 'oops'.
Or feel bruised when booted.

No trouble gets trouble,
And there's no reason to go 'oops'.
Or feel out of the loop.

If one,
Wants to date someone fine...
To wine and dine,
That line has to be baited.

Keep in mind...
One gets what they find.
If a fling is all that's sought,
Don't expect 'nuthin' special.

No trouble gets trouble,
And there's no reason to go 'oops'.
Or feel bruised when booted.

No trouble gets trouble,
And there's no reason to go 'oops'.
Or feel out of the loop.
Say...
No trouble gets trouble,
And there's no reason to go 'oops'.
Or feel bruised when booted.

No trouble gets trouble,
And there's no reason to go 'oops'.

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Added by Poetry Lover
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Wade In The Water

(first release, live version minneapolis, december 22, 1961traditional, arranged by bob dylan)
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Well, who are these children all dressed in red?
Gods a-gonna trouble the water
Must-a-be the children that moses lead
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Well out of the mountain come fire an smoke
Gods a-gonna trouble the water
Jehovah nobody be he couldve spoke
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Well, Im walkin down the highway an the waters gettin low
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Walkin down the highway, nowhere to go
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
But its wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.

song performed by Bob Dylan
Added by Lucian Velea
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Trouble In Mind

by Bob Dylan
I got to know, Lord, when to pull back on the reins,
Death can be the result of the most underrated pain.
Satan whispers to ya, "Well, I don't want to bore ya,
But when ya get tired of the Miss So-and-so I got another woman for ya."
Trouble in mind, Lord, trouble in mind,
Lord, take away this trouble in mind.
When the deeds that you do don't add up to zero,
It's what's inside that counts, ask any war hero.
You think you can hide but you're never alone,
Ask Lot what he thought when his wife turned to stone.
Trouble in mind, Lord, trouble in mind,
Lord, take away this trouble in mind.
Here comes Satan, prince of the power of the air,
He's gonna make you a law unto yourself, gonna build a bird's nest in your hair.
He's gonna deaden your conscience 'til you worship the work of your own hands,
You'll be serving strangers in a strange, forsaken land.
Trouble in mind, Lord, trouble in mind,
Lord, take away this trouble in mind.
Well, your true love has caught you where you don't belong,
You say, "Baby, everybody's doing it so I guess it can't be wrong."
The truth is far from you, so you know you got to lie,
Then you're all the time defending what you can never justify.
Trouble in mind, Lord, trouble in mind,
Lord, take away this trouble in mind.
So many of my brothers, they still want to be the boss,
They can't relate to the Lord's kingdom, they can't relate to the cross.
They self-inflict punishment on their own broken lives,
Put their faith in their possessions, in their jobs or their wives.
Trouble in mind, Lord, trouble in mind,
Lord, take away this trouble in mind.
When my life is over, it'll be like a puff of smoke,
How long must I suffer, Lord, how long must I be provoked?
Satan will give you a little taste, then he'll move in with rapid speed,
Lord keep my blind side covered and see that I don't bleed.

song performed by Bob Dylan
Added by Lucian Velea
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Trouble In Paradise

Huey lewis
Billy's home, he just got back from la.
Plenty of lines but nothing to say.
Said i, seen this movie and it don't end nice.
Looks like trouble in paradise.
He used to be cool he used to laugh a lot.
Down at the brothers in the parking lot.
Now he's sick, and he's scared and he's paying the price.
Trouble in, paradise. (trouble in paradise.)
Momma said he always was so nice.
(trouble in paradise.)
American son he's not very old.
An american dream that's never been sold.
The smile on his face is just his last disguise.
We've got trouble in paradise.
There's a scream inside that shouts: here i am !
Some people say: we've got to do what we can.
Me i don't know you see i've been there myself once or twice.
Trouble in, paradise. (trouble in paradise.)
Momma said he always was so nice.
(trouble in paradise.) we've got trouble, hey
Five long years since i wrote this song.
Many people dying, so many gone.
Take one more, coming still as good advice.
Trouble in, paradise. (trouble in paradise.)
Momma said he always was so nice.
(trouble in paradise.) we've been troubled, yeah, yeah
(trouble in paradise.)
(trouble in paradise.)
Hey,
Trouble in

song performed by Huey Lewis And The News
Added by Lucian Velea
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Trouble

I dont wanna move when Im in your hands
Theres nothing I can do or say
Put everything on hold, cancelled all my plans
Tell everybody Im away, hey
She may be bad but she feels so good
Ill give her anything she wants
Shes trouble, I know it
She only needs to touch me
Im in trouble, I know it
Shes trouble, I love it
I know that when she does it
Im in trouble, I know it
I never know whats running trough her mind
No tellin what shes gonna do
Her every move is like a dancer sign
Darlin me to come on through, hey
She may be bad but she feels so good
Ill give her anything she wants
Shes trouble, I know it
She only needs to touch me
Im in trouble, I know it
Shes trouble, I love it
I know that when she does it
Im in trouble, I know it
Shes trouble
She knows what I like
I got a feeling Im fallin
(youre in trouble)
Trouble, theres no hope in sight
Im in way overmy head
Shes trouble, I know it
She only needs to touch me
Im in trouble, I know it
Shes trouble, I love it
I know that when she does it
Im in trouble, I know it
I know it
[repeat to fade]

song performed by Michael Jackson
Added by Lucian Velea
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Lucille

Of course you've heard of the Nancy Lee, and how she sailed away
On her famous quest of the Arctic flea, to the wilds of Hudson's Bay?
For it was a foreign Prince's whim to collect this tiny cuss,
And a golden quid was no more to him than a copper to coves like us.
So we sailed away and our hearts were gay as we gazed on the gorgeous scene;
And we laughed with glee as we caught the flea of the wolf and the wolverine;
Yea, our hearts were light as the parasite of the ermine rat we slew,
And the great musk ox, and the silver fox, and the moose and the caribou.
And we laughed with zest as the insect pest of the marmot crowned our zeal,
And the wary mink and the wily "link", and the walrus and the seal.
And with eyes aglow on the scornful snow we danced a rigadoon,
Round the lonesome lair of the Arctic hare, by the light of the silver moon.

But the time was nigh to homeward hie, when, imagine our despair!
For the best of the lot we hadn't got -- the flea of the polar bear.
Oh, his face was long and his breath was strong, as the Skipper he says to me:
"I wants you to linger 'ere, my lad, by the shores of the Hartic Sea;
I wants you to 'unt the polar bear the perishin' winter through,
And if flea ye find of its breed and kind, there's a 'undred quid for you."
But I shook my head: "No, Cap," I said; "it's yourself I'd like to please,
But I tells ye flat I wouldn't do that if ye went on yer bended knees."
Then the Captain spat in the seething brine, and he says: "Good luck to you,
If it can't be did for a 'undred quid, supposin' we call it two?"
So that was why they said good-by, and they sailed and left me there --
Alone, alone in the Arctic Zone to hunt for the polar bear.

Oh, the days were slow and packed with woe, till I thought they would never end;
And I used to sit when the fire was lit, with my pipe for my only friend.
And I tried to sing some rollicky thing, but my song broke off in a prayer,
And I'd drowse and dream by the driftwood gleam; I'd dream of a polar bear;
I'd dream of a cloudlike polar bear that blotted the stars on high,
With ravenous jaws and flenzing claws, and the flames of hell in his eye.
And I'd trap around on the frozen ground, as a proper hunter ought,
And beasts I'd find of every kind, but never the one I sought.
Never a track in the white ice-pack that humped and heaved and flawed,
Till I came to think: "Why, strike me pink! if the creature ain't a fraud."
And then one night in the waning light, as I hurried home to sup,
I hears a roar by the cabin door, and a great white hulk heaves up.
So my rifle flashed, and a bullet crashed; dead, dead as a stone fell he,
And I gave a cheer, for there in his ear -- Gosh ding me! -- a tiny flea.

At last, at last! Oh, I clutched it fast, and I gazed on it with pride;
And I thrust it into a biscuit-tin, and I shut it safe inside;
With a lid of glass for the light to pass, and space to leap and play;
Oh, it kept alive; yea, seemed to thrive, as I watched it night and day.
And I used to sit and sing to it, and I shielded it from harm,
And many a hearty feed it had on the heft of my hairy arm.
For you'll never know in that land of snow how lonesome a man can feel;
So I made a fuss of the little cuss, and I christened it "Lucille".
But the longest winter has its end, and the ice went out to sea,

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poem by Robert William Service
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The Lion For Real

"Soyez muette pour moi, Idole contemplative..."

I came home and found a lion in my living room
Rushed out on the fire escape screaming Lion! Lion!
Two stenographers pulled their brunnette hair and banged the window shut
I hurried home to Patterson and stayed two days

Called up old Reichian analyst
who'd kicked me out of therapy for smoking marijuana
'It's happened' I panted 'There's a Lion in my living room'
'I'm afraid any discussion would have no value' he hung up

I went to my old boyfriend we got drunk with his girlfriend
I kissed him and announced I had a lion with a mad gleam in my eye
We wound up fighting on the floor I bit his eyebrow he kicked me out
I ended up masturbating in his jeep parked in the street moaning 'Lion.'

Found Joey my novelist friend and roared at him 'Lion!'
He looked at me interested and read me his spontaneous ignu high poetries
I listened for lions all I heard was Elephant Tiglon Hippogriff Unicorn
Ants
But figured he really understood me when we made it in Ignaz Wisdom's
bathroom.

But next day he sent me a leaf from his Smoky Mountain retreat
'I love you little Bo-Bo with your delicate golden lions
But there being no Self and No Bars therefore the Zoo of your dear Father
hath no lion
You said your mother was mad don't expect me to produce the Monster for
your Bridegroom.'

Confused dazed and exalted bethought me of real lion starved in his stink
in Harlem
Opened the door the room was filled with the bomb blast of his anger
He roaring hungrily at the plaster walls but nobody could hear outside
thru the window
My eye caught the edge of the red neighbor apartment building standing in
deafening stillness
We gazed at each other his implacable yellow eye in the red halo of fur
Waxed rhuemy on my own but he stopped roaring and bared a fang
greeting.
I turned my back and cooked broccoli for supper on an iron gas stove
boilt water and took a hot bath in the old tup under the sink board.

He didn't eat me, tho I regretted him starving in my presence.
Next week he wasted away a sick rug full of bones wheaten hair falling out
enraged and reddening eye as he lay aching huge hairy head on his paws
by the egg-crate bookcase filled up with thin volumes of Plato, & Buddha.

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poem by Allen Ginsberg
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