Rain Dogs

Edna million in a drop dead suit
Dutch pink on a downtown train
Two-dollar pistol but the gun won't shoot
I'm in the corner on the pouring rain
Sixteen men on a dead man's chest
And i've been drinking from a broken cup
Two pairs of pants and a mohair vest
I'm full of bourbon, i can't stand up

Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone

Schiffer broke a bottle on morgan's head
And i'm stepping on the devil's tail
Across the stripes of a full moon's head
And through the bars of a cuban jail
Bloody fingers on a purple knife
Flamingo drinking from a cocktail glass
I'm on the lawn with someone else's wife
Admire the view from up on top of the mast

Hey little bird, fly away home
House is on fire, children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
House is on fire, your children are alone

I said hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
House is on fire, your children are alone

Yellow sheets on a hong kong bed
Stazybo horn and a slingerland ride
"to the carnival" is what she said
A hundred dollars makes it dark inside
Edna million in a drop dead suit
Dutch pink on a downtown train
Two-dollar pistol but the gun won't shoot
I'm in the corner on the pouring rain

Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone

Sane, sane, they're all insane,
Fireman's blind, the conductor is lame
A cincinnati jacket and a sad-luck dame
Hanging out the window with a bottle full of rain
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

Said roar, roar, the thunder and the roar
Son of a bitch is never coming back here no more
The moon in the window and a bird on the pole
We can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

Said steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams
Going up to harlem with a pistol in his jeans
A fifty-dollar bill inside a palladin's hat
And nobody's sure where mr. knickerbocker's at

Roar, roar, the thunder and the roar
Son of a bitch is never coming back here no more
Moon in the window and a bird on the pole
Can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

I said steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams
Going up to harlem with a pistol in his jeans
A fifty-dollar bill inside a palladin's hat
And nobody's sure where mr. knickerbocker's at

Shine, shine, a roosevelt dime
All the way to baltimore and running out of time
Salvation army seemed to wind up in the hole
They all went to heaven in a little row boat
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

Uncle vernon, uncle vernon, independent as a hog on ice
He's a big shot down there at the slaughterhouse
Plays accordion for mr. weiss

Uncle biltmore and uncle william
Made a million during world war two
But they're tightwads and they're cheapskates
And they'll never give a dime to you

Auntie mame has gone insane
She lives in the doorway of an old hotel
And the radio is playing opera
All she ever says is "go to hell"

Uncle violet flew as a pilot
And there ain't no pretty girls in france
Now he runs a tiny little bookie joint
They say he never keeps it in his pants

Uncle bill will never leave a will
And the tumor is as big as an egg
He has a mistress, she's puerto rican
And i heard she has a wooden leg

Uncle phil can't live without his pills
He has emphysema and he's almost blind
And we must find out where the money is
Get it now before he loses his mind

Uncle vernon, uncle vernon, independent as a hog on ice
He's a big shot down there at the slaughterhouse
He plays accordion for mr. weiss

Well the smart money's on harlow and the moon is in the street
And the shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And you're east of east saint louis and the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause
And napoleon is weeping in a carnival saloon
His invisible fiancee's in the mirror
And the band is going home, it's raining hammers, it's raining nails
And it's true there's nothing left for him down here

And it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time

And they all pretend they're orphans and their memory's like a train
You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget
That history puts a saint in every dream

Well she said she'd stick around until the bandages came off
But these mama's boys just don't know when to quit
And mathilda asks the sailors "are those dreams or are those prayers?"
So close your eyes, son, and this won't hurt a bit

Oh it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time

Well things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
The boys just dive right off the cars and splash into the street
And when they're on a roll she pulls a razor from her boot
And a thousand pigeons fall around her feet
So put a candle in the window and a kiss upon his lips
As the dish outside the window fills with rain
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
And pay the fiddler off 'til i come back again

Oh it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time
And it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time

[instrumental]

Well it's ninth and hennepin
All the doughnuts have names that sound like prostitutes
And the moon's teeth marks are on the sky
Like a tarp thrown all over this
And the broken umbrellas like dead birds
And the steam comes out of the grill
Like the whole goddamn town's ready to blow...
And the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos
And everyone is behaving like dogs
And the horses are coming down violin road
And dutch is dead on his feet
And all the rooms they smell like diesel
And you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept here
And i'm lost in the window, and i hide in the stairway
And i hang in the curtain, and i sleep in your hat...
And no one brings anything small into a bar around here
They all started out with bad directions
And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear
"one for every year he's away", she said
Such a crumbling beauty, ah
There's nothing wrong with her that a hundred dollars won't fix
She has that razor sadness that only gets worse
With the clang and the thunder of the southern pacific going by
And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet
'til you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin
And you spill out over the side to anyone who will listen...
And i've seen it all, i've seen it all
Through the yellow windows of the evening train...

Falling james in the tahoe mud
Stick around to tell us all the tale
Well he fell in love with a gun street girl
And now he's dancing in the birmingham jail
Dancing in the birmingham jail

He took a hundred dollars off a slaughterhouse joe
Brought a brand new michigan twenty-gauge
He got all liquored up on that road house corn
Blew a hole in the hood of a yellow corvette
A hole in the hood of a yellow corvette

He bought a second-hand nova from a cuban chinese
And dyed his hair in the bathroom of a texaco
With a pawnshop radio, quarter past four
He left for waukegan at the slamming of the door
Left for waukegan at the slamming of the door

I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home
I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home

He's sitting in a sycamore in st. john's wood
Soaking day-old bread in kerosene
Well he was blue as a robin's egg and brown as a hog
He's staying out of circulation 'til the dogs get tired
Out of circulation 'til the dogs get tired

Shadow fixed the toilet with an old trombone
He never get up in the morning on a saturday
Sitting by the erie with a bull-whipped dog
Telling everyone he saw, "they went that-a-way, boys"
Telling everyone he saw, "they went that-a-way"

Now the rain's like gravel on an old tin roof
And the burlington northern pulling out of the world
Now a head full of bourbon and a dream in the straw
And a gun street girl was the cause of it all
A gun street girl was the cause of it all

Well he's riding in the shadow by the st. joe ridge
Hearing the click-clack tapping of a blind man's cane
He was pulling into baker on a new year's eve
One eye on a pistol and the other on the door
One eye on a pistol and the other on the door

Miss charlotte took her satchel down to king fish row
Smuggled in a brand new pair of alligator shoes
With her fireman's raincoat and her long yellow hair
Well they tied her to a tree with a skinny millionaire
They tied her to a tree with a skinny millionaire

I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home
I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home

Banging on the table with an old tin cup
Sing i'll never kiss a gun street girl again
Never kiss a gun street girl again
I'll never kiss a gun street girl again

I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home
I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home

Well time is always money for the boys on union square
Go on and bust your ass 'til doomsday, don't forget to say your prayers
Someone's riding down the backstreet, said papa got a brand new slack
And your baby is handcuffed on the front seat
Sit right there, boy and you relax, c'mon honey

We're all going down down down downtown, down downtown
We're going down downtown, we're going down downtown

Well you spill out of the cinema fourteen
To that drag bar there on the block
Whizzin' on down in front of the east coast
Bank rolled up on your sock
She stand right there for your pleasure, half puerto rican chinese
You got to find your baby somebody to measure
I'm going to get me some of these, baby
C'mon honey, do you hear what i'm doing now?

Down down down, down down down downtown
Down downtown, i'm going down downtown

'bout four in the morning on a sunday
Sacco drinking whiskey in church
Half pint of festival brandy
That boy 'bout to fall right off his perch
Well that guy in the sweater's off duty
Well he's out in front of that welfare hotel
The guy in the dress is a beauty
Go all the way, i swear you never can tell
C'mon honey, and pull up your socks

Down down down, i'm going down down down downtown
Down downtown, down down down
Down down down, c'mon down downtown
Going down downtown, i'm going down downtown

He's got himself a homemade special
You know his glass is full of sand
And it feels just like a jaybird the way it fits into his hand
He rolled a blade up in his trick towel
They slap their hands against the wall
You never trip, you never stumble
He's walking spanish down the hall

Slip him a picture of our jesus
Or give him a spoon to dig a hole
What all he done ain't no one's business
But he'll need blankets for the cold
They dim the lights over on broadway
Even the king has bowed his head
And every face looks right up at mason
Man he's walking spanish down the hall

Litella's screeching for a blind pig
Punk sanders carved it out of wood
He never sang when he got hoodwinked
They tried it all but he never would
Tomorrow morning there'll be laundry
But he'll be somewhere else to hear the call
Don't say goodbye, he's just leaving early
He's walking spanish down the hall

All st. barthelemew said
Was whispered into the ear of blind jack dawes
All baker told the machine was that he never broke the law
Go on and tip your hat up to the pilate
Take off your watch, your rings and all
Even jesus wanted just a little more time
When he was walking spanish down the hall