Sweet Payne - The Hold Steady

Payne Avenue lives up to its name

Some nights it's painful and strange

The whole city seemed sane in the day

But some nights it seems distressed and deranged

The east side is where we met with those guys

That said they'd get us high but then changed

Now they're down in the basement

And they're bashing out his brains

Kids are getting cut up with the motorcycle chains

And St. Paul had it all when we called

And they were maxing out on medicine

A shaved head and the blood on the bed

And those guys you recognize, they got the same tattoos as Gideon

Strong stuff and she had more than enough

And she was slumping over smiling and sailing off with cherubim

The cityscape skins are kinda kicking it again

They're gonna show these kids some discipline

Gideon's been living up in Bay City, Michigan

And he's been workng at the Michelin

He got messed up with some messed up magicians

We got so high some nights Michigan looked just like a mitten

Some nights we got fried

Strung out on residuals and visuals and laser shows

Reach into the speaker and try to hold on to the quarter notes

I always dream about a unified scene

I always dream about a unified scene

There's James King and King James and James Dean

At a table in the corner of my unified scene

They want a double order of love and respect

They said they just got back from up in Hostile, Massachussetts

And girl, I've seen your friend, she looks nothing like Jada Pinkett

I think you got something in those cigarettes

Gideon was living up in South Minneapolis

He was the cowboy on the crosstown bus

And all the little phillies at the Yukon Club

Are gunning for the goldrush

We got tangled in electrical fences

We got wrapped up in the indian fringes

All the little phillies at the Yukon Club

Are gunning for the goldrush

Yeah, they just can't get enough