Umbilical Town

Gary Jules

I hear you've got a pocket full of words



that you keep in the garage



together with the feathers and the fireworks



a surftown hero who's got one foot in the garden



where the neon-lighted cocktail glasses bloom



and they built you a model airplane



like the one that brought you back to lindbergh field



now you're counting your change by the streetlights on india



"hey, it's me again, I'm faded . . . could I please come over?"



you can do what you want



in umbilical town



in a waterfront bar



old gap-toothed annie was a friend of mine



the third time around she was born again



she must have burned at least a half-a-million dollars



in the little rooms next door to wash-and-fold



and there ain't no consolation prize



there is no backdoor to innocence



just the wild-eyed faces and names that you've forgotten



"hey, the money's gone, I'm broken, could I please come over?"



you can do what you want



in umbilical town



in that waterfront bar



I've been dreaming we were born together



I've been thinking about it



'been lurking backstreets - kicking down alleyways



I've been thinking about it



how it's always worse than it appears



raskolnikov's out on the stairs



howling at the man in the moon



they say he lost control



between the suburbs and the barrio



tired from too much too soon



now the air is thick with compromise



we're always on the way



so I take comfort in the only life I know



where you can do what you want



in umbilical town



at the waterfront bar



in umbilical town



you can do what you want



you can do what you want



you can do what you want