Down Town Again

The kids are loud, the house it stinks

He cracks a beer and pours another drink

Says he needs some time to think

Hindsight askewed, today's the day

She'll be home soon, the kids'll be okay

He finds the keys and drives away

The barroom reeks a golden stench

Assume your place upon the weary bench

You take the hit, don't even flinch

And the ghosts of friends who've moved along

Can still be felt but they don't sing along

To your stubborn, stupid song

You've been pretending loss could be your gain

But in the end you're just as lame

Now where have you been? You've been in the down town again

And it's the same old thing:

The flailing fall, the flake and wallow, forsaking friends

And where have you gone? 'Cause you been gone so damn long.

Okay, what's wrong,

Are you the only one to have ever once felt strong and then lost where you belong?

Some buffer for the years ahead

Means nothing if you're living dead

Now where have you gone?

Your thoughts are dulled, her words are sharp

Your memory's stained, you make the disconnect between the heart and brain

You figured loss could be your gain

You read the contract and you signed your name

Said goodbye and walked away

You figured loss could be your gain

In some fickle lease that's paid in shame

But in the end you're just as lame

In sad attempts to pluck some gem

From down below and deep within

With hazy eyes and sallow skin you wait to find just

Now where have you been? You've been in the down town again

And it's the same old thing:

The flailing fall, the flake and wallow, forsaking friends

And where have you gone? 'Cause you been gone so damn long.

Okay, what's wrong,

Are you the only one to have ever once felt strong and then lost where you belong?

And what have you seen? Was it all that you had ever dreamed?

Is there beauty to be dredged and skimmed in filthy nets

And lifted from these beery depths?

To be dragged and strewn upon the shore or simply scraped up off the floor

Attested to through glass-bottom eyes soft and sad and sore

Where have you been?