Signal fading, listen to what I'm saying

Testing, testing

This better be worth all of the breath I'm wasting

Maintaining radio silence from now on



Barricaded in the talk radio station

Hostage taken

The red "On Air" light shines on

Something cheaper that passes for free speech

Will have to do



Hear him coming through loud and clear

Trickling in your ear

He'll tell you anything you want to hear



The tape starts running

He's going to tell you something

The strings start strumming

Another humdrum conundrum

Signing off now

Maintaining radio silence from now on



But there's one thing I should have said

"The hostage will end up dead"

It's just a comedy

The hostage is me



So pay the ransom

Beyond the run-out groove

Get my wife down here

A helicopter on the roof

No police marksman

Maintaining radio silence from now on



Mystery voices

Drowned out by too much choice

That's not to mention

The sad waste of this wonderful invention

Maintaining radio silence from now on



Libraries filled up with failed ideas

There's nothing more for me there

I trust in tender ink and gentle airs



Do those drug dealers still polish women made of wax?

Gangsters and world leaders

Require the same protection from attack

From this distance it's hard to tell the difference

Between a king and a jack

Between a poet and hack

Maintaining radio silence from now on