Gates of Eden (Live at Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY - January 31, 1974 (Evening))

[Verse 1]

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

Upon four-legged forest clouds, the cowboy angel rides

With his candle burning in the sun with a glow that's waxed in black

All except when 'neath the trees of Eden

[Verse 2]

The lamppost stands with folded arms, its iron claws attached

To curbs 'neath holes where babies wail, though it shadows metal badge

All and all can only fall with a crashing, meaningless blow

And no sound at all ever comes from the Gates of Eden

[Verse 3]

The savage soldier sticks his head in sand and thеn complains

Unto the shoeless huntеr 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

[Verse 4]

With a time-rusting compass blade, Aladdin and his lamp

Sits with Utopian hermit monks sidesaddle on the golden calf

And, on their promises of paradise, ya will not hear a laugh

All except inside the Gates of Eden

[Verse 5]

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

For there are no kings inside the Gates of Eden

[Verse 6]

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 who pick up on his breadcrumb sins

There are no sins inside the Gates of Eden

[Verse 7]

The kingdoms of experience, in the precious winds, they rot

As paupers change possessions, each one wishing for what the other's got

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

It doesn't matter inside the Gates of Eden

[Verse 8]

The foreign sun, it squints upon a bed that's never mine

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

Leaving men wholly, totally free to do anything but die

And there are no trials inside the Gates of Eden

[Verse 9]

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