9th & Hennepin

Well, it's 9th and Hennepin
All the donuts have names that sound like prostitutes
And the moon's teeth marks are on the sky
Like a tarp thrown all over this
And the broken umbrellas like dead birds
The steam comes out of the grill
Like the whole goddamned town's ready to blow

And the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos
And everyone is behaving like dogs
And the horses are coming down Violin Road
And Dutch is dead on his feet
All the rooms, they smell like diesel
And you take on the dreams of the ones who've slept there

And I'm lost in the window
I hide on the stairway
And I hang in the curtain
And I sleep in your hat
And no one brings anything small into a bar around here
They all started out with bad directions
And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear
"One for every year he's away," she said
Such a crumbling beauty
Ah, there's nothing wrong with her $100 won't fix
She has that razor sadness that only gets worse
With the clang and the thunder of the Southern Pacific going by

And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet
Till you're full of rag water, bitters and blue ruin
And you spill out over the side to anyone who'll listen

I've seen it all
I've seen it all through the yellow windows of the evening train