(Opening
Intro)
[Instrumental/Monologue]
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late night and early morning low clouds with a chance of fog chance
of showers into the afternoon with variable high cloudiness and gusty
winds, gusty winds at times around the corner of Sunset and
Alvorado things are tough all over when the thunder storms start
increasing over the southeast and south central portions of my
apartment, I get upset and a line of thunderstorms was developing in the
early morning ahead of a slow moving coldfront cold blooded with
tornado watches issued shortly before noon Sunday, for the
areas including, the western region of my mental health and the
northern portions of my ability to deal rationally with my disconcerted
precarious emotional situation, it's cold out there colder than a ticket
taker's smile at the Ivar Theatre, on a Saturday night flash flood watches
covered the southern portion of my disposition there was no severe
weather well into the afternoon, except for a lone gust of wind in the
bedroom in a high pressure zone, covering the eastern portion of a small
suburban community with a 103 and millibar high pressure zone and a weak
pressure ridge extending from my eyes down to my cheeks cause since you
left me baby and put the vice grips on my mental health well the extended
outlook for an indefinite period of time until you come back to me baby
is high tonight low tomorrow, and precipitation is expected
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on a foggy night, an abandoned road in a twilight mirror
mirage with no indication of a service station or an all night garage, I
was misinformed I was misdirected cause the interchange never intersected
leaving me marooned beneath a bloodshot moon all upon a foggy night, on a
foggy night an abandoned road, in a blurred brocade collage, is that a
road motel? I can't really tell, is that what you might call some kind of
a vacancy lodge cause there's no consolation, what kind of situation to be
aimlessly skewed amidst a powder blue? no tell tail light clue spun
like the spell you spin this precarious pandemonium I'm stranded, all upon
a foggy night all upon a foggy night on a foggy night
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nighthawks at the diner of Emma's 49er, there's a rendezvous of
strangers around the coffee urn tonight all the gypsy hacks, the
insomniacs now the paper's been read now the waitress said
eggs and
sausage and a side of toast coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy chile
in a bowl with burgers and fries what kind of pie?
In a graveyard
charade, a late shift masquerade 2 for a quarter, dime for a dance with
Woolworth rhinestone diamond earrings, and a sideway's glance and now the
register rings and now the waitress sings
(chorus)
the
classified section offered no direction it's a cold caffeine in a nicotine
cloud now the touch of your fingers lingers burning in my memory I've
been 86ed from your scheme I'm in a melodramatic nocturnal scene I'm a
refugee from a disconcerted affair as the lead pipe morning falls and the
waitress calls
(chorus)
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all my friends are married every Tom and Dick and Harry you must be
strong to go it alone here's to the bachelors and the bowery
bums and those who feel that they're the ones who are better off without a
wife
I like to sleep until the crack of noon midnight howlin' at the
moon goin' out when I wanto, comin' home when I please I don't have to ask
permission if I want to go out fishing and I never have to ask for the
keys
never been no Valentino had a girl who lived in Reno left me
for a trumpet player didn't get me down he was wanted for
assault though he said it weren't his fault well the coppers rode him
right out of town
(chorus)
selfish about my privacy as long
as I can be with me we get along so well I can't believe I love to chew
the fat with folks and listen to all your dirty jokes I'm so thankful for
these friends I do receive
(chorus)
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there's a blur drizzle down the plateglass as a neon swizzle stick
stirrin up the sultry night air and a yellow biscuit of a buttery cue ball
moon rollin' maverick across an obsidian sky as the busses go groanin' and
wheezin', down on the corner I'm freezin'; on a restless boulevard at a
midnight road I'm across town from EASY STREET with the tight knots of
moviegoers and out of towners on the stroll and the buildings towering
high above lit like dominoes or black dice all the used car salesmen
dressed up in Purina Checkerboard slacks and Foster Grant
wrap-around, pacing in front of EARL SCHLEIB $39.95 merchandise like
barkers at a shootin' gallery they throw out kind of a Texas Guinan
routine "Hello sucker, we like your money just as well as anybody else's
here" or they give you the P.T. Barnum bit "There's a sucker born every
minute you just happened to be comin' along at the right time" come over
here now you know... all the harlequin sailors are on the stroll in a
search of "LIKE NEW," "NEW PAINT," decent factory air and AM-FM dreams and
the piss yellow gypsy cabs stacked up in the taxi zones waitin'
like pinball machines to be ticking off a joy ride to a magical
place waitin' in line like "truckers welcome" diners with dirt lots full
of Peterbilts, Kenworths, Jimmy's and the like, and they're hiballin' with
bankrupt brakes, over driven under paid, over fed, a day late and a dollar
short but Christ I got my lips around a bottle and my foot on the throttle
and I'm standin' on the corner standin' on the corner like a "just in
town" jasper, on a street corner with a gasper lookin' for some kind of
Cheshire billboard grin stroking a goateed chin, and using parking
meters as walking sticks on the inebriated stroll with my eyelids propped
open at half mast but you know... over at Chubb's Pool Hall and Snooker it
was a nickle after two, yea it was a nickle after two and in the cobalt steel
blue dream smoke, it was the radio that groaned out the hit parade and the
chalk squeaked, the floorboards creaked and an Olympia sign winked through a
torn yellow shade, old Jack Chance himself leanin' up against a Wurlitzer
and eyeballin' out a 5 ball combination shot impossible you say? ...hard to
believe?, perhaps out of the realm of possibility? naaaa he be stretchin'
out long tawny fingers out across a cool green felt with a provocative
golden gate and a full table railshot that's no sweat and I leaned up
against my bannister and wandered over to the Wurlitzer and I punched A-2 I
was lookin' for something like Wine, Wine, Wine by the Night Caps starring
Chuck E. Weiss or High Blood Pressure by George (cryin' in the streets)
Perkins - no dice "that's life," that's what all the people say ridin'
high in April, seriously shot down in May, but I know I'm gonna change
that tune when I'm standing underneath a buttery moon that's all melted off
to one side It was just about that time that the sun came crawlin' yellow
out of a manhole at the foot of 23rd Street and a dracula moon in a black
disguise was making its way back to its pre-paid room at the St. Moritz
Hotel (scat) and the El train came tumbling across the trestles and it
sounded like the ghost of Gene Krupa with an overhead cam and
glasspacks and the whispering brushes of wet radials on a wet pavement and
there's a traffic jam session on Belmont tonight and the rhapsody of the
pending evening, I leaned up against my bannister and I've been
looking for some kind of an emotional investment with romantic
dividends kind of a physical negociation is underway as I attempt to
consolidate all my missed weekly payments, into one-low-monthly
payment through the nose with romantic residuals and leg akimbo but the
chances are more than likely I'll probably be held over for another smashed
weekend
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warm beer and cold women, I just don't fit in every joint I stumbled
into tonight that's just how it's been all these double knit strangers
with gin and vermouth and recycled stories in the naugahyde
booths
with the platinum blondes and tobacco brunettes I'll be
drinkin' to forget you lite another cigarette and the band's playin'
something by Tammy Wynette and the drinks are on me tonight
all my
conversations I'll just be talkin' about you baby borin' some sailor as I
try to get through I just want him to listen that's all you have to
do he said I'm better off without you till I showed him my
tattoo
now the moon's rising ain't got no time to lose time to get
down to drinking tell the band to play the blues drink's are on me, I'll
buy another round at the last ditch attempt saloon
warm beer and cold
women, I just don't fit in every joint I stumbled into tonight that's just
how it's been all these double knit strangers with gin and vermouth and
recycled stories in the naugahyde booths
with the platinum blondes
and tobacco brunettes I'll be drinking to forget you lite another
cigarette and the band's playing somethin' by Johnnie Barnett and the
drinks are on me tonight
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I guess things were always quiet around Putnam County kind of shy
and sleepy as it clung to the skirts of the 2-lane, that was stretched out
like an asphalt dance floor where all the oldtimers would hunker down in
bib jeans and store bought boots lyin' about their lives and the places that
they'd been suckin' on Coca Colas and be spittin' Days Work they's be
suckin' on Coca Colas and be spittin' Day's Work until the moon was a
stray dog on the ridge and the taverns would be swollen until the naked
eye of 2am, and the Stratocaster guitars slung over Burgermeister beer
guts, and the swizzle stick legs jacknifed over naugahyde stools and
the witch hazel spread out over the linoleum floors, the pedal pushers
stretched out over midriff bulge and the coiffed brunette curls over
Maybelline eyes wearing Prince Machiavelli, Estee Lauder, smells so
sweet I elbowed up at the counter with mixed feelings over mixed
drinks and Bubba and the Roadmasters moaned in pool hall concentration as
they knit their brows to cover the entire Hank Williams Song Book and the
old National register was singing to the tune of $57.57 until last call,
one last game of 8 ball and Berneice would be putting the chairs on the
tables, someone come in say "Hey man, anyone got any Jumper Cables, is
that a 6 or a 12 volt?" and all the studs in town would toss 'em down and
claim to fame as they stomped their feet boasting about being able to get
more ass than a toilet seat. And the GMCs and the Straight 8 Fords were
coughing and wheezing and they perculated as they tossed the
gravel underneath the fenders to weave home a wet slick anaconda of a two
lane with tire irons and crowbars a rattlin' with a tool box and a pony
saddle you're grinding gears, shifting into first yea and that goddam
tranny's just getting worse with the melodies of "see ya later" and
screwdrivers on carburettors talkin' shop about money to loan and
palominos and strawberry roans See ya tomorrow, hello to the Mrs. money to
borrow and goodnight kisses the radio spittin' out Charlie Rich sure can
sing that sonofabitch and you weave home, weavin' home leaving the little
joint winking in the dark warm narcotic American night beneath a pin
cushion sky and it's home to toast and honey, start up the Ford, your
lunch money's there on the draining board, toilet's runnin' shake the
handle, telephone's ringin' it's Mrs Randal where the hell are my goddam
sandals and the porcelain poodles and the glass swans staring down from
the knick knack shelf with the parent permission slips for the kids'
field trips pair of Muckalucks scraping across the shag carpet and the
impending squint of first light, that lurked behind a weeping marquee in
downtown Putnam and would be pullin' up any minute now just like a bastard
amber Velveeta yellow cab on a rainy corner and be blowin' its horn, in
every window in town.
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well the damn cracked hard just like a bull whip cause it wasn't
takin' no lip from the night before as it shook out the street, the stew bums
showed up just like bounced checks, rubbin' their necks and the sky turned
the color of Pepto-Bismol and the parking lots growled and my old sports
coat full of promissory notes and a receipt from a late night motel and
the hawk had his whole family out there in the wind, and he's got a
message for you to beware cause he be kickin' your ass in, in a cold
blooded fashion dishin' out more than a good man can bear I got shoes
untied, shirt tail's out, ain't got a ghost of a chance with this old
romance just an apartment for rent down the block Ivar Theater with live
burlesque and the manager's scowlin', feet on his desk boom boom against
the curtain you're still hurtin' and then push came to shove, shove came
to biff girls like that just lay you out stiff maybe I'll go to Cleveland
or get me a tattoo or somethin', my brother in law's there skid mark
tattoo on the asphalt blue was that a Malibu Liz Taylor and Montgomery
Clift cumming on to the broads with the same ol' riff. Hey baby come up
to my place, we'll listen to some smooth music on the stereo, no thank
you got any Stan Getz records no I got Smothers Brothers so I combed
back my Detroit jack up my pegs, wiped my Stacy Adams jacknifed my legs,
yea I got designs on a moving violation hey baby, you put me on hold and
I'm out in the wind and it's getting mighty cold... colder than a gut
shot bitch wolf dog with 9 sucking pups pullin' a 4 trap up a hill in the
dead of winter in the middle of a snowstorm with a mouth full of porcupine
quills
(scat)
yea well I don't need you baby It's a well known
fact I'm 4 sheets to the wind I'm glad you're gone I'm glad you're
gone I'm finally alone glad you're gone, but I wish you'd come
home and I struggled out of bed cause the dawn was crackin' hard like a
bullwhip cause it wasn't takin' no lip from the night before as it shook
out the streets the stew bums showed up just like bounced checks rubbin'
their necks, and the sky turned the color of Pepto-Bismol and my old
sports coat full of promissory notes and the hawk had his whole family out
there in the wind, he got a message for you to beware kickin' your ass in,
in a cold blooded fashion he be dishin' out more than a good man can
bear well hey baby let's take it to Bakersfield get a little apartment
somewhere
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Nobody, Nobody will ever love you the way I could love you cause
nobody is that strong love is bitter sweet and life's treasures
deep but no one can keep a love that's gone wrong
Nobody,
Nobody will ever love you the way I could love you cause nobody's that
strong cause nobody's that strong
Nobody, Nobody will ever love
you the way I could love you cause nobody is that strong you've had
many lovers you'll have many others but they'll only just break your
poor heart in two
Nobody, Nobody will ever love you the way I could
love you cause nobody's that strong cause nobody's that strong
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well you see I happened to be back on the east coast a few years back
tryin' to make me a buck like everybody else, well you know times get hard
and well I got down on my luck and I got tired of just roamin' and
bummin' around, so I started thumbin' my way back to my old
hometown you know I made quite a few miles in the first couple of days,
and I figured I'd be home in a week if my luck held out this way but
you know it was the third night I got stranded, it was out at a cold
lonely crossroads, and as the rain came pouring down, I was hungry,
tired freezin', caught myself a chill, but it was just about that time
that the lights of an old semi topped the hill you should of seen me smile
when I heard them air brakes come on, and I climbed up in that cab where I
knew it'd be warm at the wheel well at the wheel sat a big man I'd
have to say he must of weighed 210 the way he stuck out a big hand
and said with a grin "Big Joe's the name and this here rig's called
Phantom 309" well I asked him why he called his rig such a name, but he
just turned to me and said "Why son don't you know this here rig'll be
puttin' 'em all to shame, why there ain't a driver on this or any other
line for that matter that's seen nothin' but the taillights of Big Joe and
Phantom 309" So we rode and talked the better part of the night and I told
my stories and Joe told his and I smoked up all his Viceroys as we rolled
along he pushed her ahead with 10 forward gears man that dashboard was lit
like the old Madam La Rue pinball, a serious semi truck until almost
mysteriously, well it was the lights of a truck stop that rolled into
sight Joe turned to me and said "I'm sorry son but I'm afraid this is just
as far as you go You see I kinda gotta be makin' a turn just up the road a
piece," but I'll be damned if he didn't throw me a dime as he threw her
in low and said "Go on in there son, and get yourself a hot cup of coffee
on Big Joe" and when Joe and his rig pulled off into the night, man in
nothing flat they was clean outa sight so I walked into the old stop
and ordered me up a cup of mud sayin' "Big Joe's settin' this dude up"
but it got so deathly quiet in that place, you could of heard a pin
drop as the waiter's face turned kinda pale, I said "What's the matter
did I say somethin' wrong?" I kinda said with 8a half way grin. He
said "No son, you see It'll happen every now and then. You see every
driver in here knows Big Joe, but let me tell you what happened just 10
years ago, yea it was 10 years ago out there at that cold lonely
crossroads where you flagged Joe down, and there was a whole bus load of
kids and they were just comin' from school and they were right in the
middle when Joe topped the hill, and could have been slaughtered
except Joe turned his wheels, and he jacknifed, and went into a skid,
and folks around here say he gave his life to save that bunch of kids, and
out there at that cold lonely crossroads, well they say it was the end of
the line for Big Joe and Phantom 309, but it's funny you know, cause
every now and then yea every now and then, when the moon's holdin' water,
they say old Joe will stop and give you a ride, and just like you, some
hitchhiker will be comin' by" "So here son," he said to me,
"get yourself another cup of coffee, it's on the house, you see I want you
to hang on to that dime, yea you hang on to that dime as a kind of
souvenir, a souvenir of Big Joe and Phantom 309"
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[Instrumental]
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