Paragon Cafe

[Verse 1]
We said goodbye to a friend yesterday
The kind of man that the wind takes away
Something like a hurricane
Weather that can take all hope from the face
Got a call from his best friend
I could hear his heart breaking as he told me about the end
Something so inevitable from someone so unforgettable

[Chorus]
It’ll only take nine hours if you take the Hume Highway
Stop in for a cup of joe at the Paragon Cafe
At the Paragon Cafе

[Verse 2]
Broke up round the capital town
Thought I’d spend thе night to stop and think and throw a couple down
I wound up on the toilet floor bleeding
Seems so appropriate somehow
I kept expecting you to pop up any time
“Hey Rogers, make mine a big black pint!”
I guess that’s gonna happen sometime when you had that face
That lit up like a highway neon sign

[Chorus]
It’ll take a good nine hours to clear the Hume Highway
Stop in for some raisin toast at the Paragon Cafe
At the Paragon Cafe

[Verse 3]
Everybody scrubbed up so clean
I guess funerals will do that
The shock leaves a sheen
Man, the faces that came out!
It was like the Annandale Hotel in ‘93
Your Mum, Dad, and Pete made some hell of speeches
Talking about the life you crammed in so short and sweet
And how you bowled a real good fast one as a greeting to every new foreign street
Guinness at 11, with some kind of schnapps confection
Stories so fuckin’ funny from every direction
All until there was a silence and someone choked
And like dominoes are want, everyone broke

[Verse 4]
It was my cue to go
Scream at the road
With nothing but volume and too many smokes
What the hell do you do when the lights you’ve been following trail off to nowhere?
Do you you just give up and fall in?
I don’t know

[Chorus]
It’ll take a good nine hours to clear the Hume Highway
“She Sells Sanctuary” sending me off
Down the Paragon...
Coffee, toast from that waitress—“Man, she never smiles!”
To break a long and lonely drive
Make some sense out of this damn day
Down the Paragon Cafe
Down the Paragon Cafe
Down the Paragon Cafe