Artist: Warren Zevon Album: Mr. Bad Example {1991}

I'm getting tired of you
You're getting tired of me
And it's the final act
Of our little tragedy
So don't feign indignation
It's a fait accompli

You can screw everybody I've ever known
But I still won't talk to you on the phone
It's a hopeless cause - there's no use crying
And I can die, you can die, we can die trying
Thanks anyway, no use hanging around
You try to put the finishing touches on me

You say it's all my fault
Who's keeping score
Some people like to be punished
They keep coming back for more
But I'm sick and tired
And my cock is sore

You can screw everybody I've ever known
But I still won't talk to you on the phone
It's a hopeless cause - there's no use crying
And I can die, you can die, we can die trying
Thanks anyway, no use hanging around
You try to put the finishing touches on me

You can screw everybody I've ever known
But I still won't talk to you on the phone
It's a hopeless cause - there's no use crying
And I can die, you can die, we can die trying
Thanks anyway, no use hanging around
You try to put the finishing touches on me

Thanks anyway
Finishing touches, finishing touches on me
Finishing touches, finishing touches on me
Finishing touches, finishing touches on me
Finishing touches, finishing touches on me

She only sleeps on planes, she's tired of gong nowhere
She's in Yugoslavia working on a miniseries

Suzie Lightning
I built a world for her
Suzie lightning
I need a girl from earth

She's in Hungary, she sends postcards home
Does she think of me - I'm in Hollywood

Suzie Lightning
Takes no prisoners
Suzie Lightning
No use crying about it
No use trying to hold on
She lights the sky up
Then she's gone

She don't have time for love, she don't need me now
Can't she see I'm burning up
Burning down, burning out

Suzie Lightning
I built a world for her
Suzie Lightning
I need a girl from earth
Suzie Lightning

Suzie Lightning
Suzie Lightning
Suzie Lightning
She only sleeps on planes

Don't bring the milk in
Leave it on the porch
Don't read the papers
Don't mow the lawn no more
Drive to the market
At the break of dawn
Watch 'em unload the produce
And ride right back home

It's the white man's burden
And it weighs a ton
I'm a family man
Model citizen

Torment the mailman
Terrorize the maid
Try to teach 'em some manners
Whip 'em into shape
Down in the basement
I've got a Craftsman lathe
Show it to the children
When they misbehave

It's the white man's burden
And it weighs a ton
I'm a family man
Model citizen

I'm a law-abiding man
I'm a good samaritan
I pay my taxes when I can
Model citizen

In the cool of the evening
When the sun goes down
My wife's playing canasta
With everyone in town
When I feel the pressure
And I need a break
Load up the Winnebago
Drive it in the lake

It's the white man's burden
And it weighs a ton
I'm a family man
Model citizen
It's the white man's burden
And it weighs a ton
I'm a family man
Model citizen
Model citizen
Model citizen
Model citizen

Sitting on the sofa
Suckin' a bowl of crack
Thinkin' to myself about my
Angel dressed in black

I know she went out hours ago
I hope she's coming back
So I wait here patiently for my
Angel dressed in black

I don't want to go out in the rain
I don't want to go out in the rain
I don't want to go out in the rain

I wish she'd come home right now
So we could interact
I've got a big surprise for her
My angel dressed in black

My little angel
She's the Queen of Downtown
She gets around town
My angel dressed in black
My little angel
She's the Queen of Downtown
She gets around town
My angel dressed in black

I'm getting kind of paranoid
I'm going off the track
I'm starting to hallucinate my
Angel dressed in black

She might have been arrested
She might have been attacked
She might be lying dead somewhere
My angel dressed in black

I don't want to go out in the rain
I don't want to go out in the rain
I don't want to go out in the rain

Sofa, crack
Thinkin' to myself about my
Angel dressed in black

My little angel
She's the Queen of Downtown
She gets around town
My angel dressed in black
My little angel
She's the Queen of Downtown
She gets around town
My angel dressed in black
My little angel
She's the Queen of Downtown
She gets around town
My angel dressed in black

I started as an altar boy working at the church
Learning all my holy moves doing some research
Which led me to a cash box labelled "Children's Fund"
I'd leave the change and tuck the bills inside my cumberbund

I got a part-time job at my father's carpet store
Laying tackless stripping and housewives by the score
I loaded up their furniture and took it to Spokane
And auctioned off every last naugahyde divan

I'm very well acquainted with the seven deadly sins
I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in
I'm proud to be a glutton and I don't have time for sloth
I'm greedy and I'm angry and I don't care who I cross

I'm Mr. Bad Example, intruder in the dirt
I like to have a good time and I don't care who gets hurt
I'm Mr. Bad Example, take a look at me
I'll live to be a hundred and go down in infamy

Of course I went to law school and took a law degree
And counselled all my clients to plead insanity
Then worked in hair replacement swindling the bald
Where very few are chosen, and fewer still are called

Then on to Monte Carlo play chemin de fer
I threw away the fortune I made transplanting hair
I put my last few francs down on a prostitute
Who took me up to her room to perform the flag salute

Whereupon I stole her passport and her wig
And headed for the airport and a midnight flight, ya dig
And fourteen hours later I was down in Adelaide
Looking through the want ads, sipping Foster's in the shade

I opened up an agency somewhere down the line
To hire aboriginals to work the opal mines
But I attached their wages and took a whopping cut
And whisked away their workman's comp and pauperized the lot

I'm Mr. Bad Example, intruder in the dirt
I like to have a good time and I don't care who gets hurt
I'm Mr. Bad Example, take a look at me
I'll live to be a hundred and go down in infamy

I bought a first class ticket on Malaysian Air
And landed in Sri Lanka none the worse for wear
I'm thinking of retiring from all my dirty deals
I'll see you in the next life, wake me up for meals

Some prayers never reach the sky
Some wounds never heal
They still say someday the South will rise
Man, I wanna see that deal

I don't want to grow old gracefully
I don't want to go 'til it's too late
I'll be some old man in the road somewhere
Kneeling down in the dust by the side of the interstate

I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days
I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days

We were hopelessly outnumbered
It was a lost cause all along
But when we heard the bugles call
We swore we'd stand or fall together, right or wrong

We ain't seen no reconstruction here
Just the scorched earth all around
And the high school band played Dixieland
While they tore our tattered flags and banners down

I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days
I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days

Some prayers never reach the sky
Some wars never end
And some dreams refuse to die
Next time I would rather break than bend

I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days
I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days
I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days
I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days

When I was young the sky was filled with stars
I watched them burn out one by one
I've had my share of disappointing love affairs
And I'm no stranger to disillusionment
Little darlin'
If you need a helping hand
If you need someone
You can count on me
And I will understand

Heartache spoken here
I know a thing or two about heartbreak and tears
So come on down, we'll talk about it
Heartache spoken here
Heartache spoken here
I know a thing or two about heartbreak and tears
So come on down, we'll talk about it
Heartache spoken here

A house of cards, a castle made of sand
Don't take much to blow away
Rows and rows of broken hearts and broken homes
So much sadness, you see it every day
Little darlin'
If you need a helping hand
If you need someone
You can count on me
And I will understand

Heartache spoken here
I know a thing or two about heartbreak and tears
So come on down, we'll talk about it
Heartache spoken here
Well, heartache spoken here
I know a thing or two about heartbreak and tears
So come on down, we'll talk about it
Heartache spoken here

I know it hurts so
When the one you love don't need you
I know the sorrow
That a reckless heart can lead to

Heartache spoken here
I know a thing or two about heartbreak and tears
So come on down, we'll talk about it
Heartache spoken here
Heartache spoken here
I know a thing or two about heartbreak and tears
So come on down, we'll talk about it
Heartache spoken here
Come on down, we'll talk about it
Heartache spoken here

Don't the sky look funny
Don't it look kinda chewed-on like
Don't you feel like running
Don't you feel like running from the dawn's early light

Quite ugly one morning
We all said goodnight
It came without a warning
Just a flash of light

Don't you feel kind of funny
Don't you feel kind of funny inside
When you feel like laughing
And everybody tells you you ought to be crying

Quite ugly one morning
We all said goodnight
It came without a warning
But it was quite all right

Quite ugly one morning
We all said goodnight
It came without a warning
But it was quite all right

From dawn to sundown
It's a long, long way
And it's a hollow triumph
When you make it to the bottom of another day
And there's a fever rising
When the evening comes
And when the battle's over
There'll be nothing left but the sound of drums

Quite ugly one morning
We all said goodnight
Came without a warning
Just a flash of light
Quite ugly one morning
We all said goodnight
It came without a warning
But it was quite all right, all right, all right

I called up my friend LeRoy on the phone
I said, "Buddy, I'm afraid to be alone
Cos I got some weird ideas in my head
About things to do in Denver when you're dead."

I was working on a steak the other day
And I saw Waddy in the Rattlesnake Cafe
Dressed in black, tossing back a shot of rye
Finding things to do in Denver when you die

You won't need a cab to find a priest
Maybe you should find a place to stay
Some place where they never change the sheets
And you just roll around Denver all day

Then LeRoy says, "There's something you should know
Not everybody has a place to go
And home is just a place to hang your head
And dream up things to do in Denver when you're dead."

You won't need a cab to find a priest
Maybe you should find a place to stay
Some place where they never change the sheets
And you jut roll around Denver all day
You just roll around Denver all day

Darkness in the morning, shadows on the land
Certain individuals aren't sticking to the plan

And I'm searching for a heart, searching everyone
They say love conquers all
You can't start it like a car
You can't stop it with a gun

Leaving in the evening, traveling at night
Staying inconspicuous, I'm staying out of sight

And I'm searching for a heart, searching everyone
They say love conquers all
You can't start it like a car
You can't stop it with a gun

They tell me love requires a little standing in line
And I've been waiting for you, lover, for a long, long time
I've been pacing the floor
I've been watching the door
Meanwhile I'll keep searching for a heart

I've been searching high and low for you, trying to track you down
Certain individuals have finally come around

And I'm searching for a heart, searching everyone
They say love conquers all
You can't start it like a car
You can't stop it with a gun

They tell me love requires a little standing in line
And I've been waiting for you, lover, for a long, long time
I've been pacing the floor
I've been watching the door
Meanwhile I'll keep searching for a heart
Searching everyone
They say love conquers all
You can't start it like a car
You can't stop it with a gun

Searching for a heart
Searching for a heart