Dignity

Fat man lookin’ in a blade of steel

Thin man lookin’ at his last meal

Hollow man lookin’ in a cottonfield

For dignity

Wise man lookin’ in a blade of grass

Young man lookin’ in the shadows that pass

Poor man lookin’ through painted glass

For dignity

Somebody got murdered on New Year’s Eve

Somebody said dignity was the first to leave

I went into the city, went into the town

Went into the land of the midnight sun

Searchin’ high, searchin’ low

Searchin’ everywhere I know

Askin’ the cops wherever I go

Have you seen dignity?

Blind man breakin’ out of a trance

Puts both his hands in the pockets of chance

Hopin’ to find one circumstance

Of dignity

I went to the wedding of Mary Lou

She said, “I don’t want nobody see me talkin’ to you”

Said she could get killed if she told me what she knew

About dignity

I went down where the vultures feed

I would’ve gone deeper, but there wasn’t any need

Heard the tongues of angels and the tongues of men

Wasn’t any difference to me

Chilly wind sharp as a razor blade

House on fire, debts unpaid

Gonna stand at the window, gonna ask the maid

Have you seen dignity?

Drinkin’ man listens to the voice he hears

In a crowded room full of covered-up mirrors

Lookin’ into the lost forgotten years

For dignity

Met Prince Phillip at the home of the blues

Said he’d give me information if his name wasn’t used

He wanted money up front, said he was abused

By dignity

Footprints runnin’ ’cross the silver sand

Steps goin’ down into tattoo land

I met the sons of darkness and the sons of light

In the bordertowns of despair

Got no place to fade, got no coat

I’m on the rollin’ river in a jerkin’ boat

Tryin’ to read a note somebody wrote

About dignity

Sick man lookin’ for the doctor’s cure

Lookin’ at his hands for the lines that were

And into every masterpiece of literature

For dignity

Englishman stranded in the blackheart wind

Combin’ his hair back, his future looks thin

Bites the bullet and he looks within

For dignity

Someone showed me a picture and I just laughed

Dignity never been photographed

I went into the red, went into the black

Into the valley of dry bone dreams

So many roads, so much at stake

So many dead ends, I’m at the edge of the lake

Sometimes I wonder what it’s gonna take

To find dignity