The Marching Guitars

Daniel Johnston - Woodshock, 1985

Down from the depths of nowhere
You know you'll hear them coming.
And no one, no one can stop them.
The marching guitars.

I saw them in the city
Coming up an alley there.
A whole crowd of people stood on
the sidewalk and stared.

Down through the streets
Through hotels and through bars
The marching guitars
The marching guitars

And no ear shall go untouched
There's no place to hide
Stay inside
For the marching guitars

And no one knows who they
They come from afar.
They do what they have to do
And turn into big stars.

And no one can stop them
The marching guitars.

I saw them in the city
They were all around
There must have been about a million
It was a deafening sound
 

Weird trivia from "not daniel" - the True Believers' debut (and only) album on EMI Records in the late 80s (before Alejandro Escovedo went solo) includes the lyrics to The Marching Guitars on the inner sleeve. The song is not on the album, however, and to the best of my knowledge the band never recorded or performed the song - somebody just decided that the lyrics belonged on that record sleeve.