legacy of oz
Lou Sweigman
back to songs
Dorothy chased her rainbow
Judy faced the rain
While demons dressed like wizards whispered only one refrain
She tried to resist them
They were just too strong
Now Judy is a ghost who lives in celluloid and song

And the legacy runs from needles to guns
And no one's immune to the pain
From Marilyn to River Phoenix
From Elvis to Kurt Cobain

Some fall to the bottle
Crawl inside to cope
But they seem bound to drain it down to their last ounce of hope
All of us need crutches
Just to stumble through
There's some who find the sturdy kind - and some who never do

And the legacy runs from needles to guns
And no one's immune to the pain
From Marilyn to River Phoenix
From Elvis to Kurt Cobain

Maybe they were victims
Of that star machine
Or maybe they just gave away their souls to reach their dreams
Well, everyone's a critic
Even death gets judged
But fingerprints ain't evidence of nothing when they're smudged

And the legacy flows from heroes to those
Who've never known fortune or fame
From Hemingway to Jimi Hendrix
From Janis to what's-her-name

Dorothy chased her rainbow
Judy chased her pain
Like Marilyn and River Phoenix
Like Elvis and Kurt Cobain