Lost in the Flood [Hammersmith Odeon, London ’75]

[Verse 1]
The ragamuffin Gunner is returnin' home
Like a hungry runaway
He walks through town all alone
"He must be from the fort," he hears the high school girls say

[Verse 2]
His countryside's burnin' with wolfman fairies
Dressed in drag for homicide
They hit and run, plead sanctuary
'Neath a holy stone they hide

[Verse 3]
Breakin' beams and crosses
Makin' their midnight connections
As the sisters run bald through the church halls, pregnant
Pleadin' immaculate conception

[Verse 4]
And everybody's wrecked on Main Street
From drinking unholy blood
Sticker smiles sweet as Gunner breathes deep
His ankles caked in mud

[Chorus 1]
And Sticker says, "Hey, Gunner, that's quicksand
That's quicksand, that ain't mud!
Have you thrown your senses to the war
Or did you lose them in the flood?"

[Verse 5]
That pure American brother
Dull-eyed and empty-faced
He races Sundays in Jersey
In his Chevy stock super eight

[Verse 6]
He rides 'er low on the hip, on the side he's got "Bound for Glory"
In red, white and blue flash paint
He leans on the hood telling racing stories
The kids call him Jimmy the Saint

[Verse 7]
Well the blaze and noise boy, he's gunnin' that bitch
Loaded to blastin' point
He rides head first into a hurricane
And disappears into a point

[Verse 8]
And there's nothin' left but some blood where the body fell
That is, nothin' left that you could sell
Just junk all across the horizon
A real highwayman's farewell

[Chorus 2]
And someone said "Hey kid, you think that's oil?
Man, that ain't oil that's blood!"
I wonder what he was thinking when he hit that storm
Or was he just lost in the flood?

[Verse 9]
Eighth Avenue sailors
In satin shirts whisper in the air
Some storefront incarnation of Maria
She's puttin' on me a stare

[Verse 10]
And Bronx's best apostle stands
With his hand on his own hardware
Everything stops and you hear five quick shots
The cops come up for air

[Verse 11]
And now the whiz-bang gang from uptown
They're shootin' up the street
That cat from the Bronx starts lettin' loose
But gets blown right off his feet

[Verse 12]
And some kid comes blastin' around the corner
But a cop puts him right away
He lays on the street holding his leg screaming something in Spanish
Still breathing when I walked away

[Chorus 3]
And someone said, "Hey man, did you see that?
His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud"
I wonder what the dude was sayin'
Or was he just lost in the flood?

[Chorus 4]
Hey man, did you see that?
Those cats were sure messed up
I wonder what they were gettin' into
Or were they just lost in the flood?

[Outro]
Oh, were they lost?
Were they lost?
Were they lost?
Were they lost?