Sun Kil Moon - The Possum lyrics

Yesterday, I was working in my yard
When I saw a possum
Swinging in the foothills and he was
Old and beat up and hobbling
I got a closer look and his foot was mangled
I was woken up earlier by what
I thought was a cat tangle
But it was him who got it
Bad from the cat that night
He moved slowly down the hill when
He slipped under the fence
I propped myself up to check him out and
He found nook under the air conditioner
I pointed him out to Caroline
And she crouched down
And he was shaking and full of fear
And when she stood up, I asked, "Baby
Why are you crying?" she said
"Because he's cute and he's down
There and he's dying"
I went up to my room and
I got a call from Justin
He was in San Francisco
And Godflesh was playing
Caroline drove me halfway there
Where I met Tony
And we drove to the city and we
Parked out in front of the DNA
Justin and us, we had some laughs and
We took photographs backstage
And our guts were protruding in all of
Them and we just kept laughing
And laughing and laughing and laughing and
Laughing and laughing and laughing
Laughing and laughing and
Laughing and laughing
And laughing and laughing and laughing
Laughing and laughing and
Laughing and laughing
And laughing and laughing and laughing
Laughing and laughing and
Laughing and laughing
And laughing and laughing and laughing

And when Godflesh took the stage, Tony and I
We stood there floored
Drum machines hammered and feedback blazed
And for a moment, everybody grew silent
While Justin tuned his guitar like a church
It got so quiet just for a minute
And then they all soared together
Like a car off a cliff
They crashed and burned over and
Over and again and again
They threw hard vicious guttural B-flats
That shook their opponent
Like a tough Roberto "Hands of Stone" Durán
Seventh round davey Moore June 16, 1983
Godflesh shook the ramp that night like
An early Mark "Gator" Rogowski
Justin lunged at the mic like
A hungry great white he was on fire
Giving everything he had and
Killing it that night!
Tearing at his prey and then it
Came to a screeching halt
A relentless and beautiful and
Glorious 70 minute assault
And then he bowed down and set
His seven string electric guitar down
And it screeched to holy hell and they
Disappeared and off went the crowd
Then we had pizza and I came back
To my apartment in the city until 4AM
I watched movies and my ears were ringing
And I called Caroline out at the house
And we talked about the concert and about
The possum down in the nook

And the ocean air came through my window
And the sound of foghorns
And then when I awoke
Godflesh was down in LA
And Tony had an open house that day
And I looked out at Sausalito
And Caroline was on her way
Back from Lake Tahoe
I got a call from Paolo Sorrentino
I'd be off to Switzerland in a week or so

Caroline came home that night and we
Had dinner and watched HBO
And I'm grateful for her love
And for my friends
And to have seen the possum walk
It's last walk among the ivy

I want to grow old and to walk the last walk
Knowing that I, too, gave it everything I got
Against all roadblocks and obstacles I fought
For to live another day is
Much better than to not
And I'd like to die with music in my ears
The piano of Maurice Ravel or
Godflesh's guttural growls from hell
The sound that evokes good memories of being
Young and able to get around
And I'd like Caroline beside me
That old possum lost the fight his sad
Black eyes what a thing to see
On a glowing Easter Sunday
But that rodent was loved and
He's still thought of
And church bells rang that day
I remember hearing them in the
Afternoon just as we left
He had to have heard them too