picture plans of vision red

i used to dream of answers in the form of mescaline
shamans on the roadside calling out with mandolins
so i flew to arizona in a plane my god had built
to find wise men or women and deny my modern guilt
i’d drive all night to find 'em if i only had a car
and also a license and just a little wherewithal
somebody out there knows the things that i don’t know
i don’t know how to find them so i guess that i’ll just go

that’s how i found myself in the desert with no clothes
having sucked all of the moisture out of my knee socks and my gloves
i happened upon a cabin guarded by three rattlesnakes
they asked me three riddles and they spat right in my face
but i still got 'em right and i asked 'em for three more
been trying to be pickier about my friends but man, i was bored
then maria launches over the hill and i forget my name
she says nice to meet you and i tell her just the same

i spent a pleasant lifetime lapping at her pleasant life
we made happiness look sad and i called her my wife
in a ceremony presided over by snakes and hawks and dogs
we were all overfed and none of us had jobs
but i started staring blankly out the window like i do
for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours yes it’s true
figure it’s time to be moving on, i gotta find my truth
took me thirty-six hours but i remembered just how to move

it’s true there’s nothing better than being free out on the road
but i was impatient and i wanted to know where to go
i’d stolen somebody’s bicycle and i covered so much ground
leaving my little line behind me like a flag jack ruby unwound
still i was no closer to finding a shaman or an answer
couldn’t help thinking of maria, my snake-charming dancer
when up beside me rolls a girl on a motorcycle
couldn’t tell just from looking if she was friendly or homicidal

we had a pretty good time, me and her and that hog
i liked her and it cause they were unpretentious and 100% analog
we pictured plans of vision read, i watched her rip a page
out of a book that had no cover, all about the iron age
she stuck it on my face with glue, and i went around like that
tryna learn by teaching, but my only students were bats
they couldn’t even read it unless i acted out the sounds
so i took them to an optometrist in the nearest two horse town

sure ain’t easy to get there, since they can’t see and neither can i
thanks to the page hanging from my forehead and covering my eyes
i hear maria driving by, gone blind as the bats and myself
don’t know how to tell her than i’m on somebody else
my bats sit down in the waiting room, there’s a palpable sense of suspense
maria walks right in the door, and, well, that makes sense
when their operation’s done my bats take one long look at me
tell me my page is just unmarked bark from a decidedly coniferous tree

well i rip the thing right off, and the light confounds my eyes
maria floats right off the table, anaesthetic's keeping her high
when her operation’s done and they remove her surgical mask
we see each other like for the first time with a fateful flash
"i love you," she says to me, "i love you" i say to her
let’s never be apart again it’s always you i prefer
now we live together in her cabin in the sand
i guess i found my shaman and she likes to hold my hand