Nobody's Man

Beneath the trees of the Casbah Beneath the roots of those trees On the casket floor On the casket floor Part of me, it feels so complete Around my childhood museums There stand Chinese guards One of them has a bell One of them has a bell Who rings when I come too close or leave too far You might say that it's reckless, you might say that it's wild But I'd rather be nobody's man than somebody's child Now there's splinters in my fingers And they're porting cement in my lungs I got a hammer and a cough I got a hammer and a coffin All of my friends speaking foreign tongues There's an ugliness growing up inside me From where it has come I don't know I left my sweetness beside My sweetness beside That girl I goodbyed long ago They might find my body at the bottom of the pile But I'd rather be nobody's man than somebody's child Such plans they have, such God's they have Deep in this nation of heat We've been outdone again We've been outdone again and All of my friends they walk on their feet And a congress of jackals will put a tax on my smile But I'd rather be nobody's man than somebody's child I might move to Las Vegas, live there for a while 'Cause I'd rather be nobody's, nobody's, nobody's Yes I'd rather be nobody's man than somebody's child