A cab combs the snake,

Tryin' to rake in that last night's fare,

And a solitary sailor

Who spends the facts of his life like small change on strangers...



Paws his inside P-coat pocket for a welcome twenty-five cents,

And the last bent butt from a package of Kents,

As he dreams of a waitress with Maxwell House eyes

And marmalade thighs with scrambled yellow hair.



Her rhinestone-studded moniker says, "Irene"

As she wipes the wisps of dishwater blonde from her eyes



And the Texaco beacon burns on,

The steel-belted attendant with a 'Ring and Valve Special'...

Cryin' "Fill'er up and check that oil"

"You know it could be your distributor and it could be your coil."



The early mornin' final edition's on the stands,

And that town cryer's cryin' there with nickels in his hands.

Pigs in a blanket sixty-nine cents,

Eggs - roll 'em over and a package of Kents,

Adam and Eve on a log, you can sink 'em damn straight,

Hash browns, hash browns, you know I can't be late.



And the early dawn cracks out a carpet of diamond

Across a cash crop car lot filled with twilight Coupe Devilles,

Leaving the town in the keeping

Of the one who is sweeping

Up the ghosts of Saturday night...