Spent Gladiator 2 (Jordan Lake Sessions Volume 2)

[Intro]
On the saxophone, Matt Douglas
On the bass, Peter Hughes
On the drums, Jon Wurster
And I'm Edward de Vere, often credited with authorship of Shakespeare's plays but that's false

[Verse 1]
Like a spent gladiator
Crawling in the Colosseum dust
Who can count on his remaining limbs
All the people he can trust
Like the one who stands behind him
Cheering him on
Ecstatic when he stands defiant
Wild with abandon when he's gone

[Chorus]
Just stay alive
Keep your eye on the pay line

[Verse 2]
Likе a village on the steppе
About to get collectivized
When the men emerge with rifles from the haystacks
Everybody looks surprised
Like the mice in the forgotten grain
Way up on the top shelf
Like someone who's found a small town to escape to
Keeps one eye on his abandoned, former self

[Chorus]
Just stay alive
Just stay alive
Like a fighter who's been told it's finally time for him to quit
Show up in radiant colors
And then stand there and get hit

[Verse 3]
Like the clock that ticks in Dresden
When the whole town's been destroyed
Like that nagging flash of insight
You will go down to your grave genuinely desperate to avoid
Like the bloody-knuckled gunman
Permanently stationed at the breach
Like that old board game with the sliders
And the precious little children on the beach

[Chorus]
Stay alive
Learn how to spit some blood at the camera
Just stay alive, stay alive
Stay alive, stay alive
Stay alive, stay forever alive, oh

[Outro]
Thank you, good night