At nine o'clock each morning down on Charlotte Avenue

The bus driver stops and lets her off

Before the first shampoo

Alice started working there when she was just a girl

And now she mans the second chair

At Thelma's Cut and Curl



A trim is just ten dollars and the conversation's free

She recreates the latest styles of 1963

With a lipstick-circled cigarette constantly aflame

She greets all her clientele

By first and middle names



And even though that mirror paints a picture much too clear

She'll mix you up some magic and she'll dye away the years

And, oh, they come and go so fast

Don't they, Alice -- Alice in the looking glass



One time she was married, but now she lives alone

But there's a little ancient poodle

Waiting there for her at home

And she'll tell you all about him like he was her only child

And rubs her swollen ankles

While she waits for you to dry



There's a picture on the mirror there of her at seventeen

The day that Thelma did her hair when she was football queen

And, oh, they come and go so fast

Don't they, Alice -- Alice in the looking glass



Even though that mirror paints a picture much too clear

She'll mix you up some magic and she'll dye away the years

And, oh, they keep coming back

Don't they, Alice -- Alice in the looking glass