Gates Of Eden Lyrics - Arlo Guthrie

Of war and peace the truth just twists, its curfew gull it glides 

Upon four legged forest clouds the cowboy angel rides 

With his candle lit into the sun though it's glow is waxed in black 

All except beneath the trees of Eden 

The lamp post stands with folded arms its iron claws attached 

To curbs 'neath holes where babies wail 

Through its shadow's metal badge 

All in all can only fall with a crashing but meaningless blow 

No sound ever comes from the Gates of Eden 

The savage soldier sticks his head in the sand and then complains 

Unto the shoeless hunter who's gone deaf but still remains 

Upon the beach where hound dogs bay at ships with tattooed sails 

Heading for the Gates of Eden 

The time rusted compass blade, Aladdin and his lamp 

Sits with Utopian hermit monks, side saddle on the Golden Calf 

And on their promises of paradise you will not hear a laugh 

All except inside the Gates of Eden 

Relationships of ownership they whisper in the wings 

To those condemned to act accordingly and wait for succeeding kings 

And I try to harmonize with songs the lonesome sparrow sings 

There are no kings inside the Gates of Eden 

The motorcycle 'Black Madonna', two-wheeled gypsy queen 

And her silver-studded phantom cause the gray flannel dwarf to scream 

As he weeps to wicked birds of prey, pick up on his bread crumb sins 

And there are no sins inside the Gates of Eden 

The kingdoms of experience in the precious winds they rot 

While paupers change possessions 

Each one wishing for what the other has got 

And the princess and the prince discuss what's real and what's not 

It doesn't matter inside the Gates of Eden 

The foreign sun it squints upon a bed that is never mine 

As friends and others, strangers from their fates try to resign 

Leaving men holy and totally free to do anything they wish to do but die 

And there are no trials inside the Gates of Eden 

At dawn my lover comes to me and tells me of her dreams 

With no attempts to shovel the glimpse 

Into the ditch of what each one means 

At times I think there are no words but these to tell what's true 

And there are no truths outside the Gates of Eden