Jackals

Jackals hide behind handsome faces
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, remind me, remind me

In a bedroom of a brick and stucco house
A girl in Seersucker pants reached for a book to pass the day away
Not yet knowing the proper way to read
The girl took the tales as fact and cried all afternoon
After dinner and after her daily bath
Clean-skinned and damp-haired
She lay down to bed as the lights went out
Under an Amish quilt and inside her flannel pajamas
The girl wrestled with troubled thoughts
Troubled sleep, troubled dreams

The elevator opens on a white frost-bitten world
I step out and the doors slide closed
Leaving me alone with the only one who could hurt me

Jackals hide behind handsome faces
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, remind me, remind me

Old Gepetto sold all his winter clothe to buy books
For his wooden son who lied, lied through his nose
And when the circus wagon came rollin' through the town
The boy jumped aboard and left not even a note
In desperation over this disappearance
The old man with arthritic hands tore down his house plank by plank
And carried each one by one down to the harbor
Trading his shoes for some nails and a hammer
To build, to build himself a boat
"The waters are wide, but I will find my child
I'll set out into the sun until I meet my end in the belly of a whale"

Jackals hide behind handsome faces
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, remind me, remind me

1982 Mercedes Blues and the rumbling sputter of a diesel engine
And the gooseflesh returns
Isn't it a pity? Isn't it a shame?
We can't see ourselves inside this moving sedan
The windshield's too busy to reflect
The outside looks lovely and oh so tempting
The light on the smokestacks and water towers beckons me
Beckons to me
So hello, my newfound friend, Disaster
Come sit down at our round-table
Let us ask your advice
Should we bring on the accident?

Drive on, my friends
There's love beyond this bend
Sky is falling, doctor's calling
But still it's worth the wait
Time's passed
Time is passing
And time will pass

Jackals hide behind handsome faces
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, remind me, remind me