A box full of groceries

Rotten clothes, she's torn her knees

In the main street chill

She sleeps at night in broke-down cars

Squirts the dreams into her arms

She says, "junkie-man, have your fill."



Well, she had friends that went abroad and do not write

She says the hardest ones are those who stay behind



Chorus:

In the valley of the dead cars

They would end it all if they could start

They sent out their kids to wander the world

Now they can rest at last



You're out scootin' by the graveyard

And you're looking for a brave heart

Could've been your lover but you said you never gave

You have to be home early

Or you'll get smacked 'round the head till bedtime

Now you hike the roads on your half-shod feet

You hump the devil, you hump the police

Criss-cross harlem playing hide-and-seek with death



And now she lurches off as haughty as a queen

To take the waters in old skibbereen--chorus



So i took her back with me to my own true place

Which was a mildewed and disintegrating cottage

Overlooking a disused waterfall

And we lay there in silence, fruitless silence

Until just before dawn when she rolled over onto me



They come withal in their japanese cars

They know where the good meal bargains are

And they spy by the side of the road

In the twilight, rain and storm

She juts her thumb in futile haste

Contempt to her is sweet to taste

The nuns told her, "do not waste sensation."



When the towns are all just smoking empty shells

She will still be here doing what she does well



In the valley of the dead cars

At the mouth of a flooded mine

I will embrace you hard

And we'll wait for the sun to shine

In the valley of the dead cars

The valley of the dead cars


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