licorice tattoo turned a gun metal blue scrawled across the shoulders

of a dying town the one eyed jacks across the railroad tracks

and the scar on its belly pulled a stranger passing through

he was a juvenile delinquent never learned how to behave

but the cops would never think to look in

burma shave



and the road was like a ribbon and the moon was like a bone

he didn't seem to be like any guy she'd ever known

he kinda looked like farley granger with his hair slicked back

she says i'm a sucker for a fella in a cowboy hat

how far are you going he said depends on what you mean

he says i'm going thataway just as long as it's paved

i guess you'd say i'm on my way to

burma shave



and her knees up on the glove compartment

took out her barrettes and her hair spilled out like rootbeer

and she popped her gum and arched her back

hell marysville ain't nothing but a wide spot in the road

some night my heart pounds just like thunder

i don't know why it don't explode

cause everyone in this stinking town has got one foot in the grave

and i'd rather take my chances out in

burma shave



presley's what i go by why don't you change the station

count the grain elevators in the rearview mirror

mister anywhere you point this thing

has got to beat the hell out of the sting

of going to bed with every dream that dies here every mornin

and so drill me a hole with a barber pole

i'm jumping my parole just like a fugitive tonight

why don't you have another swig

and pass that car if you're so brave

i wanna get there before the sun comes up in

burma shave



and the spider web crack and the mustang screamed

smoke from the tires and the twisted machine

just a nickel's worth of dreams and every wishbone that they saved

lie swindled from them on the way to

burma shave



and the sun hit the derrick and cast a bat wing shadow

up against the car door on the shot gun side

and when they pulled her from the wreck you know she

still had on her shades

they say that dreams are growing wild just this side of

burma shave