Blonde On Blonde

Well, i see you got your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat
Yes, i see you got your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat
Well, you must tell me, baby
How your head feels under somethin' like that
Under your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat

Well, you look so pretty in it
Honey, can i jump on it sometime?
Yes, i just wanna see
If it's really that expensive kind
You know it balances on your head
Just like a mattress balances
On a bottle of wine
Your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat

Well, if you wanna see the sun rise
Honey, i know where
We'll go out and see it sometime
We'll both just sit there and stare
Me with my belt
Wrapped around my head
And you just sittin' there
In your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat

Well, i asked the doctor if i could see you
It's bad for your health, he said
Yes, i disobeyed his orders
I came to see you
But i found him there instead
You know, i don't mind him cheatin' on me
But i sure wish he'd take that off his head
Your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat

Well, i see you got a new boyfriend
You know, i never seen him before
Well, i saw him
Makin' love to you
You forgot to close the garage door
You might think he loves you for your money
But i know what he really loves you for
It's your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat

Well, they'll stone ya when you're trying to be so good,
They'll stone ya just a-like they said they would.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to go home.
Then they'll stone ya when you're there all alone.
But i would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, they'll stone ya when you're walkin' 'long the street.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to keep your seat.
They'll stone ya when you're walkin' on the floor.
They'll stone ya when you're walkin' to the door.
But i would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

They'll stone ya when you're at the breakfast table.
They'll stone ya when you are young and able.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to make a buck.
They'll stone ya and then they'll say, "good luck."
Tell ya what, i would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, they'll stone you and say that it's the end.
Then they'll stone you and then they'll come back again.
They'll stone you when you're riding in your car.
They'll stone you when you're playing your guitar.
Yes, but i would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, they'll stone you when you walk all alone.
They'll stone you when you are walking home.
They'll stone you and then say you are brave.
They'll stone you when you are set down in your grave.
But i would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, early in the mornin'
'til late at night,
I got a poison headache,
But i feel all right.
I'm pledging my time to you,
Hopin' you'll come through, too.

Well, the hobo jumped up,
He came down natur'lly.
After he stole my baby,
Then he wanted to steal me.
But i'm pledging my time to you,
Hopin' you'll come through, too.

Won't you come with me, baby?
I'll take you where you wanna go.
And if it don't work out,
You'll be the first to know.
I'm pledging my time to you,
Hopin' you'll come through, too.

Well, the room is so stuffy,
I can hardly breathe.
Ev'rybody's gone but me and you
And i can't be the last to leave.
I'm pledging my time to you,
Hopin' you'll come through, too.

Well, they sent for the ambulance
And one was sent.
Somebody got lucky
But it was an accident.
Now i'm pledging my time to you,
Hopin' you'll come through, too.

When she said,
"don't waste your words, they're just lies,"
I cried she was deaf.
And she worked on my face until breaking my eyes,
Then said, "what else you got left?"
It was then that i got up to leave
But she said, "don't forget,
Everybody must give something back
For something they get."

I stood there and hummed,
I tapped on her drum and asked her how come.
And she buttoned her boot,
And straightened her suit,
Then she said, "don't get cute."
So i forced my hands in my pockets
And felt with my thumbs,
And gallantly handed her
My very last piece of gum.

She threw me outside,
I stood in the dirt where ev'ryone walked.
And after finding i'd
Forgotten my shirt,
I went back and knocked.
I waited in the hallway, she went to get it,
And i tried to make sense
Out of that picture of you in your wheelchair
That leaned up against . . .

Her jamaican rum
And when she did come, i asked her for some.
She said, "no, dear."
I said, "your words aren't clear,
You'd better spit out your gum."
She screamed till her face got so red
Then she fell on the floor,
And i covered her up and then
Thought i'd go look through her drawer.

And, when i was through
I filled up my shoe
And brought it to you.
And you, you took me in,
You loved me then
You didn't waste time.
And i, i never took much,
I never asked for your crutch.
Now don't ask for mine.

Oh, the ragman draws circles
Up and down the block.
I'd ask him what the matter was
But i know that he don't talk.
And the ladies treat me kindly
And furnish me with tape,
But deep inside my heart
I know i can't escape.
Oh, mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of mobile
With the memphis blues again.

Well, shakespeare, he's in the alley
With his pointed shoes and his bells,
Speaking to some french girl,
Who says she knows me well.
And i would send a message
To find out if she's talked,
But the post office has been stolen
And the mailbox is locked.
Oh, mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of mobile
With the memphis blues again.

Mona tried to tell me
To stay away from the train line.
She said that all the railroad men
Just drink up your blood like wine.
An' i said, "oh, i didn't know that,
But then again, there's only one i've met
An' he just smoked my eyelids
An' punched my cigarette."
Oh, mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of mobile
With the memphis blues again.

Grandpa died last week
And now he's buried in the rocks,
But everybody still talks about
How badly they were shocked.
But me, i expected it to happen,
I knew he'd lost control
When he built a fire on main street
And shot it full of holes.
Oh, mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of mobile
With the memphis blues again.

Now the senator came down here
Showing ev'ryone his gun,
Handing out free tickets
To the wedding of his son.
An' me, i nearly got busted
An' wouldn't it be my luck
To get caught without a ticket
And be discovered beneath a truck.
Oh, mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of mobile
With the memphis blues again.

Now the preacher looked so baffled
When i asked him why he dressed
With twenty pounds of headlines
Stapled to his chest.
But he cursed me when i proved it to him,
Then i whispered, "not even you can hide.
You see, you're just like me,
I hope you're satisfied."
Oh, mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of mobile
With the memphis blues again.

Now the rainman gave me two cures,
Then he said, "jump right in."
The one was texas medicine,
The other was just railroad gin.
An' like a fool i mixed them
An' it strangled up my mind,
An' now people just get uglier
An' i have no sense of time.
Oh, mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of mobile
With the memphis blues again.

When ruthie says come see her
In her honky-tonk lagoon,
Where i can watch her waltz for free
'neath her panamanian moon.
An' i say, "aw come on now,
You must know about my debutante."
An' she says, "your debutante just knows what you need
But i know what you want."
Oh, mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of mobile
With the memphis blues again.

Now the bricks lay on grand street
Where the neon madmen climb.
They all fall there so perfectly,
It all seems so well timed.
An' here i sit so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get out of
Going through all these things twice.
Oh, mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of mobile
With the memphis blues again.

Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded, though we're all doin' our best to deny it
And louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of johanna that conquer my mind

In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the "d" train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's really insane
Louise, she's all right, she's just near
She's delicate and seems like veneer
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That johanna's not here
The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of johanna have now taken my place

Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He's sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall while i'm in the hall
How can i explain?
Oh, it's so hard to get on
And these visions of johanna, they kept me up past the dawn

Inside the museums, infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But mona lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, "jeeze
I can't find my knees"
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of johanna, they make it all seem so cruel

The peddler now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for him
Sayin', "name me someone that's not a parasite and i'll go out and say a prayer for him"
But like louise always says
"ya can't look at much, can ya man?"
As she, herself, prepares for him
And madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of johanna are now all that remain

Standing on your window, honey,
Yes, i've been here before.
Feeling so harmless,
I'm looking at your second door.
How come you don't send me no regards?
You know i want your lovin',
Honey, why are you so hard?

Kneeling 'neath your ceiling,
Yes, i guess i'll be here for a while.
I'm tryin' to read your portrait, but,
I'm helpless, like a rich man's child.
How come you send someone out to have me barred?
You know i want your lovin',
Honey, why are you so hard?

Like a poor fool in his prime,
Yes, i know you can hear me walk,
But is your heart made out of stone, or is it lime,
Or is it just solid rock?

Well, i rush into your hallway,
Lean against your velvet door.
I watch upon your scorpion
Who crawls across your circus floor.
Just what do you think you have to guard?
You know i want your lovin', honey, but you're so hard.

Achilles is in your alleyway,
He don't want me here,
He does brag.
He's pointing to the sky
And he's hungry, like a man in drag.
How come you get someone like him to be your guard?
You know i want your lovin',
Honey. but you're so hard.