There was a time when I didn't talk
I'd look away or I'd shrug it off
Tune it out or turn it off
Or say something short and soft
Out of school, I took a J O B
Making buttons in a factory
Thinking what has life got in for me
And I didn't wanna know
In a city full of double deals
My boss would yawn
And roll back on his heels
As if anyone could cop a feel
Of lady luck
I was made with my brother Bill
Drinking Moskie Moons
On top of Laurel Hill
Funny now I'd cheek a poison pill
To sober up
And no two bit claim that I'm alright
Is gonna turn it around and make it right
So I'm reaching in my pocket for a light
And I'm standing on the corner
On a Saturday night
I've seen pigeons flap their filthy wings
To a freezing sunset in the west
Rain shit down from their haunted perch
Above the bells of St. Someone's church
The sexton drinks and dreams in bed
One eye in a line of light
Startled by a ghost he screams
His dead wife's name into the night
Which echoes down a cobbled hall
Bounces off a gray stone floor
Fired down a line of stairs
Where it's silenced by a door
Beyond which I am leaning, leaning
Watching cars and dreaming
As steam rose 'round my body
Like my soul up to the stars
I guess the devil's had his way with the town
Now that Willie is in the ground
And I guess the devil made me this
When he gave me knowing I can't resist
I got the bill today
Wrote back, I moved away
They called me up to say
They know that I'm still here
On the fifth day of the fifth month
At five o'clock in the dawn
I rolled myself in a T O P
And jumped out on Highway One
With a 400 engine hot as a cremation coffin
And a tailgate banging like an airplane wing
I was rolling down the highway, doing it my way
Whistling someday and singing this song