Todd Rundgren: Runt

Artist

Todd Rundgren

Players

Todd Rundgren, Tony Sales, Hunt Sales, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Bobby Moses, John Miller, Mark Klingman, Don Ferris, Mickey Brook, Don Lee Van Winkle

Producer

Todd Rundgren

Release Date: 1970
Duration: 40:39
Label: Rhino/Bearsville
Catalog Number: RNCD 70862

  1. Broke Down and Busted
  2. Believe In Me
  3. We Gotta Get You A Woman
  4. Who's That Man?
  5. Once Burned
  6. Devil's Bite
  7. I'm In The Clique
  8. There Are No Words
  9. Baby Let's Swing
  10. The Last Thing You Said
  11. Don't Tie My Hands
  12. Birthday Carol
  13. Baby Let's Swing (on original Runt)
  14. Hope I'm Around (on original Runt)
  15. Say No More (on original Runt)

Broke Down and Busted

Look at this empty face,
Look at this broken frame
I have been no other place
And you know I've heard no other name.

How can you keep me so?
How can I let it go?
I look the worst that you've ever seen
Is it too much to ask what that's supposed to mean?
You've been playin' around and I played the part
Of a broke-down man with a busted heart.

Reach out a hand and see
What you have made of me
Take a good hard look and then
Close your eyes and
Ask yourself again

How can you keep me so?
How can I let it go?
You know that I would go anywhere
That I could go in my old wheelchair
Though I wouldn't get far 'til it fell apart
I'm a broke down man with a busted heart.

How can you keep me so?
How can I let it go?
You know my state as you hear my song
You'll change your mind if I live that long
Couldn't start it again
Nothing's left to start
But a busted man with a broke-down heart.

Believe In Me

Please don't look at me that way,
I can hardly say what I have to say,
There is nothing that I haven't told to you
That I didn't believe you knew.
I am thinking of another time
I could feel you thinking that you were mine,
Now I hold out my hands 'til my arms get tired
And you wait on the other side.

You and me, we're both the same,
Don't let me take all the blame,
I promise that I will do all it takes to make up for my mistakes.
So, I'm trying hard to be the man
And it's not a hard thing to understand,
For I think that my being would cease to be
If you didn't believe in me, If you didn't believe in me.

We Gotta Get You A Woman

Leroy, boy, is that you?
I thought your post-hangin' days were through,
Sunk-in eyes and full of sighs,
Tell no lies, you get wise,
I tell you now we're gonna pull you through,
There's only one thing left that we can do.

We gotta get you a woman,
It's like nothin' else to make you feel sure you're alive.
We gotta get you a woman,
We better get walkin', we're wastin' time talkin' now.

Leroy, boy, you're my friend
You say how and I'll say when
Come and meet me down the street
Take a seat, it's my treat
You may not ever get this chance again
That empty feeling's just about to end.

Talkin' 'bout life and what it means to you,
It don't mean nothin' if it don't run through
I got one thing to say, you know it's true
You got to find some time to get this thing together.

Talkin' 'bout things about that special one
They may be stupid but they sure are fun
I'll give it to you while we're on the run
Because we ain't got time to get this thing together, 'cause we
Got to get together with a woman who has been around,
One who knows better than to let you down,
Let's hope there's still one left in this whole town,
And that she'll take some time to get this thing together.

We gotta get you a woman
And when we're through with you,
We'll get me one too.

Who's That Man?

Who's that man, who's that man?
Who told him that he could hold your hand?
When I looked him in the eye he ran
Who's that man, who's that man?

Maryanne, who's that man?
There's one thing that you should understand
You know many things that go unsaid
By the way one earns his daily bread.

He's a lotus-eater, a plow-share beater,
A rack-jobber and an old grave robber,
A strip miner, a big headliner,
A charge-card diner and he comes from Carolina.

Maryanne, who's that man?
Do you think he's doing all that he can?
Can you tell me after all I've said
That you'd leave me and take him instead?

He's a gun-clubber, an eye-rubber
A bum's rusher and a big ball-crusher
A draft-boarder, a food-hoarder
A strike-breaker and a heavy speed-taker.

He's a black brother, an unwed mother
A flag-waver and a rock and roll raver
A hippie killer, an offshore driller
The new messiah and a habitual liar.

Once Burned

So few and far between,
Here's a mood I've never seen you in.
I should have known not to ask you why
And set myself up for one big, long cry.

Once burned and twice removed
Thought I made it now but nothing's proved.
Set in my mind not to push too hard,
And now I wind up back in your backyard.

No one cares about the loser,
No one gets a second chance,
Even you, even me, if it's through.
Don't you see that it's one thing if I should lose again,
But to walk away twice is a crying shame.

Devil's Bite

Who's that knockin' on my door?
Who's that rising up from under the floor?
I know. I can hear that demon roar,
But I don't care, I ain't gonna hear it no more.

I don't care, I paid my dues last year,
Have no fear, now it's time that I clear out of here.
Just let you know before I go.

Are you devil or death?
You'll have to bow, ain't no power on earth can stop me now,
I have done all things that make it right,
To keep me out of the devil's bite.

Heaven sent me down a sign
Things were bad but now I'm doin' fine
So you better step back cross that line
Now I can't see you but for one last time.
I can see you marked my life like a scar
So you are
But it don't take a star to go far.
I'll let you on, before I'm gone.

I knew someday you'd be along,
Swingin' your tail and singin' a dead man's song,
Just when things get good you want your take
But you're wrong, 'cause I'm leaving this shell
And I'm movin' on.

I'm In The Clique

I'm in the clique, I'm in the clique
I'm really slick, I know every trick
And I can get a chick, 'cause I'm in the clique.

Get your greasy hands off the guitar,
Get your slimy seat off the drums,
Go and take a chair in the corner,
And wait until your time comes.
Maybe you're a wheel in your hometown,
Maybe you're the best on the block,
But by the time you make it in New York,
Your axe will be in hock.

Gettin' in the door will cost a fin
Minimum is another three
It takes a year of heavy spending
Before they let you in free.
You may dress like everybody
But there the similarity ends
You need more than a uniform to be
In our little circle of friends.

Maybe I could give you advice
But what can I say to you?
Some people get it together
And some people never do.
Just try and get your foot in the door
And maybe, with luck, you may
Also be in a position to look
Down your nose on somebody someday.

There Are No Words

Oh, Ah, OOOOO.

Baby Let's Swing

Laura, I saw you open in LA
There's something I gotta say
Laura, you know it's really been such a long, long time
And you know Laura, I knew you'd make it good someday
And you knew it anyway
Laura, I know that maybe this is the wrong, wrong time
But Laura where did that magic go
It's so hard, it's so cold down here
Did you have to leave me behind?
I wish that I could make it
But how I love to shuffle (how I love to shuffle)
Baby let's swing
Now I love to shuffle
Ever since I heard you sing (since I heard her sing)

The Last Thing You Said

So may people have heard me cry
Since that terrible day when you said goodbye
So many dark corners have heard me say
How the light has gone out since you went away
Everyone's heard of how you left me again
Everyone's heard about my so-called friend
They tell me I'm a fool, but I don't hear a word
'Cause the last thing you said was the last thing I heard
How many times I've tried to talk to my heart
But it won't even listen since you tore it apart
I have to tell myself there's only one thing to do
Try and find someone else and forget about you
I know she doesn't mean a thing in the world
I waste my hours with another girl
She says she loves me so but I don't hear a word
'Cause the last thing you said was the last thing I heard

Don't Tie My Hands

Long-lost, gone
I can tell by the way you carry on
And it's now I see
After all of this time what it's done to me
Can't you see? I can't go free
If you make me watch you cry one more time

Once more I walk away, once more I hear you say
Once more please try to stay, once more I may
Don't tie my hands, don't lock that door
Don't make me stand for this love anymore
Please let me leave, don't start making that scene
Don't crush me in between

No one I wanted more
I wanted to love, to be mine
Now it turns out I have to say goodbye
And I don't see why
I should have to watch you cry one more time

Birthday Carol

I was born this very morning
	and my brother he was also born,
In our first nine months we learned to speak
	and we have been listening since early morn.
I love no one but my brother
	who spent those months with me
I hate no one and no other has so far hated me
But it isn't yet the afternoon,
	and things are still to be,
And when evening comes we all will see.

I am not very old and I won't live long.
I was born this very morning singing this here song

Now I feel the worst for older people
	winding out their friendless hours alone
Seeing lives like plays at final curtain
	looking out to find everyone has gone home.
Is there something I can pray to?
Some offering I can send?
Or some ear that I can play to, to help him find a friend?
And maybe then redeem myself to keep me from that end
For the evening comes and who knows when.

Oh, my brother, where is our mother?
Is there no other to live together,
To be our lover?

Baby Let's Swing (on original Runt)

  Laura, I saw you open in LA
  There's something I gotta say
  Laura, you know it's really been such a long, long time

  And you know Laura, I knew you'd make it good someday
  And you knew it anyway
  Laura, I know that maybe this is the wrong, wrong time
  But Laura where did that magic go
  It's so hard, it's so cold down here
  Did you have to leave me behind?
  I wish that I could make it
  But how I love to shuffle (how I love to shuffle)
  Baby let's swing
  Now I love to shuffle
  Ever since I heard you sing (since I heard her sing)

  Laura, I saw you in that magazine
  You looked like a gypsy queen
  Laura, I beat around the bush 'cause it's oh so hard
  But you know Laura, it's not the best it's ever been
  I think you know what I mean
  I wish you'd take a look in your own back yard
  To see that someone has seen it all
  Seen you climb, seen you fall so low
  If you have to leave it behind
  I'll carry it on for ya, 'cause it's oh so hard
  Baby let's swing
  Now I love to shuffle
  Ever since I heard you sing

Hope I'm Around (on original Runt)

  (see Todd Rundgren's Ballad of Todd Rundgren)

Say No More (on original Runt)

  Say no more
  I can feel you whenever you're near
  Say no more
  I will know all you want me to hear
  I am writing with you, of you, love you
  Say no more
  I am lost in a river of words
  Say no more
  Let this feeling be all that is heard
  I am by you, with you, of you, love you
  Say no more

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Lyrics v. 2.4.2
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