Umbilical Town

I hear you've got a pocket full of words

that you keep in the garage

together with the feathers and the fireworks

a surftown hero who's got one foot in the garden

where the neon-lighted cocktail glasses bloom

and they built you a model airplane

like the one that brought you back to lindbergh field

now you're counting your change by the streetlights on india

"hey, it's me again, I'm faded . . . could I please come over?"

you can do what you want

in umbilical town

in a waterfront bar

old gap-toothed annie was a friend of mine

the third time around she was born again

she must have burned at least a half-a-million dollars

in the little rooms next door to wash-and-fold

and there ain't no consolation prize

there is no backdoor to innocence

just the wild-eyed faces and names that you've forgotten

"hey, the money's gone, I'm broken, could I please come over?"

you can do what you want

in umbilical town

in that waterfront bar

I've been dreaming we were born together

I've been thinking about it

'been lurking backstreets - kicking down alleyways

I've been thinking about it

how it's always worse than it appears

raskolnikov's out on the stairs

howling at the man in the moon

they say he lost control

between the suburbs and the barrio

tired from too much too soon

now the air is thick with compromise

we're always on the way

so I take comfort in the only life I know

where you can do what you want

in umbilical town

at the waterfront bar

in umbilical town

you can do what you want

you can do what you want

you can do what you want