Johnny is dead, no hands can hold him back
Dissolving into subway stations, malt liquor, surprise attacks
Send is voice to the army, he don't need it anymore
Send is soul to the bathroom, he'll be as dirty as before
Brother Bill got down and when he got there, he did cry
The sisters of electricity, they heaved and they sighed
But the organist is assassinated
The Devil is out on his parole
The fires keep getting hotter, the glacier is out of control
And it's goodbye to Cadillac, farewell to steel
Goodbye to the motion inside the memory of the wheel
The girls at the bust stop know exactly what I want
But leave them over my shoulder because they don't need what I got
What is the song that makes my ears bleed?
I heard it on the radio at the dentist and it really got through to me
I searched every station, even left my house to go to the store
That song was never written, baby that poet was never born.
Sister Sue dressed in blue spent Hemingway's very last chance
Now she sits in forgotten motor inns watching reruns of MASH
Swallowing seven of these and four of those with a glass in every hand
When the cops found her, she was canceled, now she smiles when she can
Sweet Nora had a hole in her heart, shaped as a man
She woke up to the sound of the garbage trucks and she couldn't understand
That the big city ain't no place for no shy violet
Now the jet plane is in the McDonald's and they're cooking up the pilot
And it's goodbye to Cadillac, farewell to steel
Goodbye to the motion inside the memory of the wheel
The girls at the bust stop know exactly what I want
But leave them over my shoulder because they don't need what I got