Robin Rendell's Over And Done Too Soon

Another from the vaults, this one from 2008. No apolgies for reposting this favourite of mine. #folksong #folk #originalsong #singersongwriter #protest
Over And Done Too Soon
Robin J Rendell © 2008

It’s been a long time comin’
Over and done too soon
Gonna scrape the sky in old Manhattan
Swing on the chin of the moon
There ain’t no Jerusalem
In the towers of neon signs
Jesus is just the son of a carpenter
And water don’t taste like wine

Dealers in the temples
In their honeymoon trousseaux
You’d think with all their fancy education
They’d know somethin’ into nothin’ won’t go
It don’t make no difference
When two and two gets them five
They know it’s wrong but hell it don’t matter
The bees are still in the hive.

So beware of promises by tattooed goddesses
Who keep their prodigies in the zoo
In their ivory fortresses, the hares and tortoises
Prepare for the prophecies to come true

There ain’t no room for the hobo
On the gravy train today
They’ve lost the boxcars to Pullman club diners
And somebody’s gonna pay
Stealin’ crumbs from the table
The mice have choked on the cheese
They don’t need no bread for their new communion
Only the dirt on their knees

Where were the politicians
The fathers of the law
When this new weapon of mass seduction
Slept with an overpaid whore
Who will stand at the altar
Live by an old-fashioned creed
Don’t hold your breath for no retribution
Martyrs don’t die for their greed

So beware of promises by tattooed goddesses
Who keep their prodigies in the zoo
In their ivory fortresses, the hares and tortoises
Prepare for the prophecies to come true

© Robin J Rendell.