And my friend comes in Seen old Barry on the wall Said you oughta have an asterisk up there So I painted on the wall With the paintbrush in my hand An asterisk but what the hell He's still up there I am painting my mistakes Underneath your soft embrace They're all marching to Pretoria but my dear The Colts are on TV And I guess we'll have to see How it goes, how it is In the Christian New Year And I have an escape route For my life, for my time Just one push of this button over here New clothes, new face New name, vanish with no trace And a fine apartment on Cape Fear I am painting something warm To ride us through this storm And the days fade and the car's in second gear And all the questions you been saving For the next electric wave Will all be answered In the Christian New Year Trudy Trudy Trudy I'm still on active duty And you know what happens when you're AWOL If you're fragile you get dropped If you're tough they'll help you up But maybe though In a little while Every time a bird flies by Tears well up in my eye I can feel the rain from a couple mornings down Out in the pasture the cow's in heat Someone gonna sweep her off her feet Probably one of them bulls Wander out here from town I am driving to my grave Sure as Moses was a slave But I'm happy as long as I can steer I am dreading the disease But El Paso's on its knees And there's still days and days Til the Christian New Year