I can hardly bare the sight of lipstick On the cigarettes there in the ashtray Lyin' cold the way you left them But at least your lips caressed them while you packed And a lip print on a half-filled cup of coffee That you poured and didn't drink But at least you thought you wanted it That's so much more than I can say for me It's been a good year for the roses Many blooms still linger there The lawn could stand another mowin' Funny, I don't even care When you turned and walked away And as the door behind you closes The only thing I know to say It's been a good year for the roses After three full years of marriage It's the first time that you haven't made the bed I guess the reason we're not talkin' There's so little left to say, we haven't said While a million thoughts go racin' through my mind I find I haven't spoke a word And from the bedroom those familiar sounds Of our one baby's cryin' goes unheard But what a good year for the roses Many blooms still linger there The lawn could stand another mowin' Funny, I don't even care When you turned and walked away And as the door behind you closes The only thing I know to say It's been a good year for the roses

I heard it in the wind last night It sounded like applause Did you get a round resounding for you Way up here It seems like many dim years ago Since I heard that face to face Or seen you face to face Though tonight I can feel you here I get these notes On butterflies and lilac sprays From girls who just have to tell me They saw you somewhere In some office sits a poet And he trembles as he sings And he asks some guy To circulate his soul around On your mark red ribbon runner The caressing rev of motors Finely tuned like fancy women In thirties evening gowns Up the charts Off to the airport Your name's in the news Everything's first class The lights go down And it's just you up there Getting them to feel like that Remember the days when you used to sit And make up your tunes for love And pour your simple sorrow To the soundhole and your knee And now you're seen On giant screens And at parties for the press And for people who have slices of you From the company They toss around your latest golden egg Speculation well who's to know If the next one in the nest Will glitter for them so I guess I seem ungrateful With my teeth sunk in the hand That brings me things I really can't give up just yet Now I sit up here the critic And they introduce some band But they seem so much confetti Looking at them on my TV set Oh the power and the glory Just when you're getting a taste for worship They start bringing out the hammers And the boards And the nails I heard it in the wind last night It sounded like applause Chilly now End of summer No more shiny hot nights It was just the arbutus rustling And the bumping of the logs And the moon swept down black water Like an empty spotlight

The first time that i met her I was throwing up in a ladies room stall. She asked me if i needed anything I said i think i spilled my drink. And that's how it started. (Or so i'd like to believe) She took me to her mother's house outside of town Where the stars hang down. She said she'd never seen someone so lost. I said i'd never felt so found. And then i kissed her on the cheek. And so she kissed me on the mouth. Oh oh oh oh. Spring was popping daises Around rusted trucks and busted lawn chairs. We moved into a studio in council bluffs To save a couple of bucks. Where the mice came out at night. Neighbors were screaming all the time. We'd make love in the afternoon To chelsea girls and bachelor number 2. I'd play for her some songs i wrote She'd joke and say i'm shooting through the roof. I'd say they're all for you dear. I'll write the album of the year. And i know she'd love me then. I swear to god she did. Because the way she'd bite my lower lip And push her hips against my hips. And dig her nails so deep into my skin. The first time that i met her I was convinced that i had finally found the one. She was convinced i was under the influence Of all those drunken romantics. I was reading Fante at the time. I had Bukowski on my mind. She got a job at jacob's Serving cocktails to all the local drunks. Against her will i fit the bill I perched down at the end of the bar. She says space is not just a place for stars. I give you an inch you want a house with a yard. And i know she loved me once. But now those days are gone. She used to call me every day From a payphone on her break for lunch Just to say she can't wait to come home. To come home. To come home. Yeah home. The last time that i saw her She was picking through which records were hers. Her clothes were packed in boxes With some pots and pans and books and a toaster. Just then a mouse scurried across the floor. So i laughed until it didn't hurt. I laughed until it didn't hurt. I laughed until it didn't hurt. Ah right.

With a handful of backhanders and a bevy of beauty You're going off limits, going off duty Going off the rails, going off with booty They tell tales of fiction found on all the criminal types Lead to a higher ranking man or a face with thin red stripes The boys next door The mums and dads New weds and nearly deads Have you ever been had in Clubland? There's a piece in someone's pocket to do the dirty work You've come to shoot the pony, they've come to do the jerk They leave him half way to paradise They leave you half way to bliss The ladies' invitation never seemed like this The boys next door The mums and dads New weds and nearly deads Have you ever been had in Clubland? The long arm of the law Slides up the outskirts of town Meanwhile in Clubland They are ready to pull them down Hey The right to work is traded in For the right to refuse admission Don't pass out now, there's no refund (When) Did you find out what you were missing? The crowd is taking forty winks minus ten percent You barely get required sleep to go lingering with contemptment Thursday to Saturday, money's gone already Some things come in common these days Your hands and work aren't steady The boys next door The mums and dads New weds and nearly deads Have you ever been had in Clubland?

Born in the middle of a second big baby boom Those noisy boys just might have spoken up too soon Now I'm looking for a little girl, I wonder where she's gone Big money for families having more than one Opportunity, opportunity This is your big opportunity They shop around Follow you without a sound Whatever you do now Don't turn around Don't turn around Whatever happened to the pride of the nation? They say: "Just wait until you break formation" She was sitting pretty on a velvet cushion But her bedroom eyes were like a button she was pushing She said: "When they get to Dover they'll be be taking over" I said I'd come to her defense and then she pulled me over Opportunity, opportunity This is your big opportunity They shop around Follow you without a sound Whatever you do now Don't turn around Don't turn around I'm in the foxhole, I'm down in the trench I'd be a hero but I can't stand the stench The Fitness Institute was full of General Motormen And the "Hello House of Beauty" wouldn't stand a chance with them The chairman of this boredom is a compliment collector I'd like to be his funeral director Opportunity, opportunity This is your big opportunity They shop around Follow you without a sound Whatever you do now Don't turn around Don't turn around Please don't turn around Please don't turn around Don't turn around Don't turn around Don't turn around

We're all going on a summer holiday Vigilante's coming out to follow me Heard somebody say, they're out to collar me Anybody wanna swallow me? Takes two to tumble, it takes two to tango Speak up, don't mumble if you're in the combo On the beat, on the beat Till a man comes along and he says "Have you been a good boy, never played with your toy? Though you never enjoy, such a pleasure to employ" See your friends in the state their in See your friends getting under their skin See your friends getting taken in Well, if you only knew the things you do to me I'd do anything to confuse the enemy There's only one thing wrong with you befriending me Take it easy, I think you're bending me I've been a bad boy with the standard leader My neighbor's revving up his Vaux hall Viva On the beat, on the earth beat Till a man comes along and he says "Have you been a good boy, never played with your toy? Though you never enjoy, such a pleasure to employ" See your friends walking down the street See your friends never quite complete See your friends getting under their feet Oh, I don't want to disease you But I'm no good with machinery Oh, I don't wanna freeze you Stop looking at the scenery I keep thinkin' about your mother Oh, I don't wanna lick them I don't wanna be a lover I just wanna be your victim I don't go out much at night I don't go out much at all Did you think you were the only one Who was waiting for a call? On the beat, on the beat, on the earth beat Till a man comes along and he says "Have you been a good boy, never played with your toy? Though you never enjoy, such a pleasure to employ" See your friends treat me like a stranger See your friends despite all the arrangements See your friends, nothing here has changed Just the beat, just the beat, just the beat, just the beat

Nice girls, not one with a defect Cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct Red dogs under illegal legs She looks so good that he gets down and begs She is watching the detectives "Ooh, it's so cute" She's watching the detectives When they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot They beat him up until the teardrops start But he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart Long shot of that jumping sign Invisible shivers running down my spine Cut to baby taking off her clothes Closeup of the sign that says "we never close" You snatch a chill and you match a cigarette She pulls your eyes out with a face like a magnet I don't know how much more of this I can take She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake She is watching the detectives "Oh, he's so cute" She is watching the detectives Oh, and they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot They beat him up until the teardrops start But he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart You think you're alone until you realize you're in it Now baby's here to stay, love is here for a visit They call it instant justice when it's past the legal limit Someone's scratching at the window, I wonder, who is it? The detectives come to check if you belong to the parents Who are ready to hear the worst about their daughter's disappearance Though it nearly took a miracle to get you to stay It only took my little fingers to blow you away Just like watching the detectives Don't get cute Just like watching the detectives I get so angry when the teardrops start But he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart Watching the detectives It's just like watching the detectives Watching the detectives Watching the detectives Watching the detectives Watching the detectives Watching the detectives Watching the detectives

So this is where he came to hide When he ran from you In a private detective overcoat And dirty dead man's shoes The pretty things of Knightsbridge Lying for a minister of state Is a far cry from the nod and wink Here at traitor's gate 'Cause the high heel he used to be has been ground down And he listens for the footsteps that would follow him around To murder my love is a crime But will you still love A man out of time? There's a twopenny ha'penny millionaire Looking for a fourpenny one With a tight grip on the short hairs Of the public imagination But for his private wife and kids somehow Real life becomes a rumor Days of Dutch courage Just three French letters and a German sense of humor He's got a mind like a sewer and a heart like a fridge He stands to be insulted, and he pays for the privilege To murder my love is a crime But will you still love A man out of time? The biggest wheels of industry Retire sharp and short And the after-dinner overtures Are nothing but an afterthought Somebody's creeping in the kitchen There's a reputation to be made Whose nerves are always on a knife's edge Who's up late polishing the blade Love is always scarpering or cowering or fawning You drink yourself insensitive and hate yourself in the morning To murder my love is a crime But will you still love A man out of time? Will you still love A man out of time? Will you still love A man out of time? Ooh

Don't say you love me when it's just a rumour Don't say a word if there is any doubt. Sometimes I think that love is just a tumour; You've got to cut it out. You say you're sorry for the things that you've done. You say you're sorry but you know you don't mean it. I wouldn't worry. I had so much fun. Sometimes I almost feel just like a human being It's you Not just another mouth in the lipstick vogue It's you Not just another mouth in the lipstick vogue Oh yeah. Get to the slot machine almost dead on arrival Just hit me one more time with that live wire Maybe they told you you were only a girl in a million You say I've got no feelings; This is a good way to kill them. Select the control and then insert the token You wanna throw me away but I'm not broken. You've got a lot to say. Well I'm not joking. There are some words they don't allow to be spoken. Sometimes I almost feel just like a human being It's you Not just another mouth in the lipstick vogue