Deuteronomy 2:10

Lyrics

The sun above me and a concrete floor below
Scratch at the chain links maybe bare my teeth for show
Fed twice a day I don't go hungry anymore
Feel in my bones just what the future has in store
I pace in circles so the camera will see
Look hard at my stripes, there'll be no more after me[1]

Laze by the shoreline while the sailors disembark
Scratch out a place to sit and rest down in the dark
Smell something burning downwind just a little ways
They set up camp and sing and sweat and work for days
I have no fear of anyone[2] I'm dumb and wild and free
I am a flightless bird and there'll be no more after me[3]

In Costa Rica in a burrow underground
Climb to the surface, blink my eyes and look around
I'm all alone here as I try my tiny song
Claim my place beneath the sky[4] but I won't be here for long
I sang all night, the moon shone on me through the trees
No brothers left and there'll be no more after me[5]

Banter

• It’s sung by three creatures who are- none of them are with us anymore. Though sometimes, the fellow in the first verse, people think they saw him running down the streets and highways around Brisbane or Gold Coast or something. People think they saw him. They think they saw one and they look up little clips of the creature that looks a little like your dog or something, scurrying down a highway. Maybe, maybe the last one. Maybe. Maybe it’s just a dog. (2009-11-28)
• This was on Life of the World To Come. [woo!] Yeah, fellow Bible obsessives. Finally, I get some Bible here. That's what they're saying. I was worried that there was not enough Bible, except for the one that quoted I Corinthians. This is kind of a song about hopelessness, and the long, steady contemplation thereof. (2015-04-11 - City Winery, New York City)

Live Performances

• 2009-12-01 Webster Hall
• 2015-04-03 - The Grey Eagle, Asheville
• 2015-04-11 - City Winery, New York City (recording)
• 2023-07-13 The Vanguard
• 2023-10-13 Fox Theater

Footnotes