Back When

M y brother turned his back to a flaming sky said, "If ya seen one sunset you seen em all." I was slowly losing my tiny empire It was so upsetting to watch it fall Every night before we'd go to bed My brother would read from, "The Lord of the Rings" "We only see shadows", my momma said We'd light up a joint while she threw the I'Ching And when she read it, we were all ears "The superior man always perceivers In the morning, we'd fire up Mother, and hit the road I was " Two Toke Tito" back then The toe headed stoner bandito back when.. Mom threw the TV out the window when they pretended to land on the moon I made up my very own language back then Had my first magic mushroom sandwich back when They killed those kids at Kent State and Abbie tried to levitate the Pentagon "Mother" was our psychedelic house on wheels We headed south to land with a little more sun Back then there were Gypsies in Mexico the locals would gather and wait for the show Momma told them that we were just hippies and there wouldn't be one Our cat, "Hash" ran away down in Navidad at least it was a place where he would never lack something to eat The darnedest cat that we ever had He loved to smoke dope and he was never bothered by the heat We always wanted just one more year in the tropical mountains where the air was so clear and the mornings were cool enough to see our breath We tried at the border for another year when they turned us away it felt an awful lot like death That was back then.. Back when Timmy O leary had something a lot cleaner than meth Now thirty eight years have come and gone My oldest brother's republican and momma passed on My real dad did too, but I didn't know him anyway Now I'm a blue collar stiff fighting to survive I swore that the system wouldn't take me alive It makes me feel like dying sometimes, That's all I've got to say I still remember when My brother turned his back on a flaming sky and said, "If ya seen one sunset ya seen em all."