The Hold Steady

Kids with broken hearts, kids with broken bones
Kids with kidney stones giving birth to bloody stereos
Systems are all dripping wet with the gristle piss and the swizzlesticks
Mary got a bloody nose from sniffing margarita mix

She licked her lower lip and then she kissed that Hallelujah chick
She came off kind of spicy but she tasted like those pickle chips
Thought she was a dancer but her steps they made the records skip
She came off kind of crunchy but she went down like a chicken strip

Dripping wet with the special sauce
She had a confident smile and a nervous cough
And we got off

She said, "It's good to see you back in a bar band, baby."
I said, "It's great to see you're still in the bars."
She said, "It's good to see you back in a bar band, baby."
I said, "It's great to see you're still in the bars."

Went down with a tallboy can and he woke up in a cargo van
Went down with the girls gone wild and he woke up with a middle man
Went down with like fourteen bucks and woke up with like sixteen grand
Went down with some crust punk junk and woke up with a straight edge band
That's not how he planned it

Holly can't speak, she don't feel all that sweet
About the places she sometimes has to go to get some sleep
She said "I'm sorry, people think I'm pretty."
These clever kids are killing me

For one they ain't that clever
Number two, it really sucks when you get stuck here with these Trevors
This was supposed to be a party
Half the crowd is calling out for "Born To Run"
The other half is calling out for "Born To Lose"

Baby, we were born to choose
We got the last call bar band really, really, really big decision blues
We were born to bruise
We were born to bruise
We were born to bruise

You came into the party with a long black shawl
And the guys from the front lawn were making jokes about the white swan
Some nights we just need to get touched and rub up against something plush
Some nights it's just a crush and some nights it's blood lust

She said we might use you later on
Meet me right back here around dawn

You came into the ER drinking gin from a jam jar
And the nurse is making jokes about the ER being like an after bar
You know you're weak and effete and I'm coming up from the streets
You're up in your loft getting soft and I'm coming up the stairs and I'm coming from the streets

She said I love the guys you can't trust
Meet me here about dusk

I was half dead then I got born again
I got lost in all the lights but it was okay in the end
And when we hit the twin cities, I didn't know that much about it
I knew Mary Tyler Moore and I knew Profane Existence

I was keyed up, keys jangled in the stalls
They counted money in the motels, they mostly sold it in the malls
And the carpet at the Thunderbird
Has a burn for every cowboy that got fenced in

She said you remind me of Rod Stewart when he was young
You've got passion and you think that you're sexy and all the punks think that you're dumb
The guys around the lockers got a story about the stomach pump
And the guys behind the theater found a body in the garbage dump

She got screwed up by religion
She got screwed by soccer players
She got high for the first time at the camps down by the banks of the Mississippi River
Lord, to be seventeen forever

She got confused about the truth
She came to in a confession
She got high for the last time in the camps down by the banks of the river
Lord, to be thirty-three forever

And she got screwed up by her vision
It was scary when she saw him
She didn't tell a single person about the camps on the banks of the Mississippi River
Lord, to be seventeen forever

She got strung out on the scene
And she got scared when it got druggy
The way the whispers bit like fangs in the last hour of the party
Lord, to be thirty-three forever

She drove it like she stole it
She stole it fast and with a multitude of casualties
She said I shipped it out from Boulder
Packed in coffee grounds and wrapped around in dryer sheets

We spent a few months just wandering the Sonoma
High as hell and shivering and smashed
We were trying for a vision quest
We opened up three buttons and all we saw was desert trash

It's a funny bit of chemistry
How a cool car makes a guy seem that much cooler
And it's worth noting that throughout history
Kids come around the corner to a multitude of casualties

We spent a few hours circling the city
Like a hawk out on the highways we were looking around for something that just died
We heard the deacon's hopeful eulogy
At least in dying you don't have to deal with new wave for a second time

And after your party
We got off the grid
We just couldn't get with all those clever kids

And now we forage on the frontage roads
We drive at night, I guess it just feels somewhat safer
Yeah, we scrounge around for sustenance
We mostly eat it in the back half of the theaters

We spent a few years nodding off in matinees
We were high as hell and shivering and smashed
We were hoping for an action adventure
Or something loud that we could feel through all the Feminax

And after the movie
We got off the ground
Got in your car and crawled around in Lowertown

While she was at the citadel he was getting high as hell
When she came to in the matinee she was asking around for some place else to stay
While he was down in Lowertown she was feeling out the 5:30 folk mass
And the night she got born again, he was getting with her little hoodrat friend

They did the wade into the water, into one tin soldier
She started to cry
Youth services always find a way
To get their bloody cross into your druggy little messed up teenage life

He said what about Los Angeles?
She said we never really made it that far west
We scored big in Denver and thought it might be best
To go hang around in the upper midwest

He said what about New Orleans?
She said I don't think you understand what that means
All those hangers-on, those girls lifting up their shirts when the cameras come on
We were trying to stay away from those kind of scenes

And we didn't go to Dallas
'Cause Jackie Onassis said that it ain't safe for Catholics yet
Think about what they pulled on Kennedy and then think about his security
Then think about what they might try to pull on you and me

Saint Barbara, I'm calling your name
Don't let me blow up
We'll hook it all up
I guess there's fields of speed where there's fields of grain

Saint Barbara, don't let me explode
I can feel the whole scene
Starting to corrode
When we're fooling around on the frontage roads

He asked what happened to Charlemagne
She just smiled all polite-like and said something vague
She said Charlemagne got caught up in some complicated things
Then she wiped at her nose and she winked

Nelson Algren came to Paddy at some party at the dead end alley
Yeah, he told him what to celebrate
And I met William Butler Yeats, Sunday night dance party, summer 1988
At first I thought it might be William Blake

We mix our own mythologies, we push them out through PA systems
We dictate our doxologies and try to get sleeping kids to sit up and listen
And I'm not saying we could save you, but we could put you in a place where you could save yourself
If you don't get born again at least you'll get high as hell

Yeah, and sweet St. Paul, that must be the hardest luck saint of them all
We met him at some suburban St. Paul mall
But when St. Theresa came to Holly, I wasn't even at that party
I'd already moved out to New York City

When Judas went up and kissed him
I almost got sick
I guess I knew what was coming
I guess I knew it was coming

We gather our gospels from gossip and bar talk then we declare them the truth
We salvage our sermons from message boards and scene reports and we sic them on the youth
We try out new testaments on the guys sitting next to us in the bars with the bars on the windows, alright
Even if you don't get converted tonight, you gotta admit the band's pretty tight

They did "She's Got Legs" into "Ain't Too Proud To Beg"
Into something by the Dixie Dregs
And they faked their way through "Fairytale of New York"
When the band finished playing we howled out for more

Hey Nelson Algren, Chicago seemed tired last night
They had cigarettes where there were supposed to be eyes
Hey William Butler Yeats, all the Irish seemed wired last night
They tried to separate our girls from our guys

They had cigarettes where there were supposed to be eyes

Hallelujah came to in the confession booth
Infested with infections and smiling on an abscessed tooth
Running out on residue and crashing through the vestibule
The crucifixion cruise, she climbed the cross and found she liked the view

And sat reflecting on the resurrection and dreaming about an old connection
And talking loud over lousy connections, she put her mouth around a difficult question
She said Lord, what do you recommend to a real sweet girl who's made some not-sweet friends?
Lord, what do you prescribe to a real soft girl who's having real hard times?

Her parents named her Hallelujah, the kids all called her Holly
And if she scared you then she's sorry, she's been stranded at these parties
These parties they start lovely
But they get druggy and they get ugly and they get bloody

The priest just kinda laughed, the deacon caught a draft
She crashed into the Easter mass with her hair done up in broken glass
She was limping left on broken heels
When she said, "Father, can I tell your congregation how a resurrection really feels?"

Holly was a hoodrat, and now you finally know that
And she's been disappeared for years, today she finally came back
St. Louis had enslaved me, I guess Santa Ana saved me, St. Peter had me on the queue, the St. Paul saints they waved me through
I was all wrapped up in some video booth when I heard her say "I love you too"

She said I've laid beneath my lovers but I've never gotten laid
Some nights she felt protected, some nights she felt afraid
She spent half last winter just trying to get paid
From some guy she originally thought to be her savior

They wrote her name in magic marks on stop signs and subway cars
They got a mural up on East 13th that said "Hallelujah, rest in peace"
Hallelujah was a hoodrat, and now you finally know that
She's been disappeared for years, today she finally came back

Walk on back, walk on back

She said don't turn me on again
I'd probably just go and get myself all gone again
Don't turn me on again
I'll probably just go and go and get myself all gone again

So don't turn me on again
I'll probably just go and go and get myself all gone again
Hallelujah was a sexy mess, she looked strung out but experienced
So we all got kind of curious

Walk on back...

Woke up in the '20s and there were flappers and fruits in white suits
It was right before the crash, we got thrashed throughout the '30s
Queuing up for soup with scabby sores
Then they sent us off to war

We came back in the '40s and there were wheelchairs, guns and tickertape
We poured it on the floor and we made love to the interstates
We got shiftless in the '50s, holding hands and going steady
Twisting into dark parts of the large midwestern cities

Tripped right through the '60s with some blissful little hippie
Some Kennedys got shot while you were screwing San Francisco
And the '70s got heavy, we woke up on bloody carpets
Got tangled up in gaslines, and I guess that's where it started

The '80s almost killed me, let's not recall them quite so fondly
Some Kennedy OD'ed while we watched on MTV
And in the '90s we were wired and well connected
Put it all down on technology and lost everything we invested

We gotta start it off with a positive jam
We gotta start it with a positive jam, man
Gotta start it with a positive jam

All the sniffling indie kids: hold steady
And all you clustered-up clever kids: hold steady
And I got bored when I didn't have a band
And so I started a band, man
We're gonna start it with a positive jam
Hold steady

Pills and powders, baby, powders and pills
We spent the night last night in Beverly Hills
This chick, she looked just like Beverly Sills
We got killed

Tights and skirts, baby, skirts and tights
We used to shake it up in Shaker Heights
This chick, she looked just like Patty Smythe
She seemed shaky but nice

She said my name's Rick Danko, baby
People call me One-Hour Photo
I got some hazardous chemicals
So drive around to the window

She said my name's Robbie Robertson but people call me Robo
I blew red white and blue right into a tissue
I came right over the counter just to kiss you
I came right over the counter just to kiss you

Ginger and Jack and four or five Feminax
Psycho eyes and a stovepipe hat
A ray of light through tight white rayon slacks
We got cracked

Shoes and socks, baby, socks and shoes
We spent the night last night in Newport News
This chick, she looked just like Elizabeth Shue
We got bruised

She said my name's Steve Perry, baby
People call me Circuit City
I'm so well connected
My UPC is dialed into the system

She said my name's Neal Schon but people call me Nina Simone
Some people call me Andre Cymone
'Cause I survived the '80s one time already
And I don't recall it all that fondly
So hold steady

It was a blockbuster summer
Moving pictures got us through to September
They made a movie about me and you
They made it half nude and half true

It was a bloodsucking summer
I spent half the time trying to get paid from our savior
Swishing though the City Center
I did a couple favors for these guys who looked like Tusken Raiders

When he's holding then the streetlamps, they seem an awful lot like spotlights
Yeah, sometimes Charlemagne gets uptight
Running numbers between bars, running girls between the cars
And sometimes Charlemagne feels alright, alright, alright

Charlemagne had eyes just like a lover
Last winter there was weather and his eyes just iced right over
Cassanova's in the corner and he's asking for a dance
Speed shooters driving 'round and coming down and trying to hook up with an entrance ramp

Tramps like us and we like tramps
Charlemagne's got something in his sweatpants

Holly was supposed to be at CCD but she was walking around on shady streets
She was looking around for something she could take up to a party
And it's not like she's enslaved, it's more like she's enthralled
She don't need it but she likes it so she always makes that call

First it makes her feel tall, then it makes her feel small and it's all a sweet fleeting feeling
They did the "been caught stealing" into "dancing on the ceiling"
And you're damn right we danced
Charlemagne's got something in his sweatpants

Do you want me to tell it like it's boy meets girl and the rest is history, or do you want it like a murder mystery?
I'm gonna tell it like a comeback story
'Cause when we left we were defeated and depressed and when we arrived we were ripping high
We had a gun in the glove box, we had some sweet stuff tucked into our socks, and Jesus Christ in all His glory

I guess you're old enough to know
Kids out on the east coast
Roughly twenty years old
They got coaxed out by a certain perfect ratio

Of warm beer to the summer smoke
And the Meat Loaf to the Billy Joel
Certain songs they get so scratched into our souls

She goes low on the seats when she gets high in her car
She looks shallow but she's neck deep in the steamy dreams of the guys along the harbor bars
She's pulling out her shirttails and she's jacking up her socks
Stern and stoned and confident, coming up towards the jukebox
Born into the only songs that everybody finally sings along

B-1 is for the good girls and it's "Only The Good Die Young"
C-9 is for the making eyes, it's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light"
B12 is for the speeders and D4 is for the lovers
And the hard drugs are for the bartenders and the kitchen workers and the bartender's friends
And they're playing it again
And Ellen Foley gives 'em hope
And certain songs they get scratched into our souls

I guess you're old enough to know
Kids out on the west coast are taking off their clothes
Screwing in the surf and going out to shows
They get high and ride around in GTOs

Certain songs they get so scratched into our souls
Certain songs they get so scratched into our souls

I've been trying to get people to call me Freddy Knuckles
People keep calling me Right Said Fred
And it's hard to keep trying when half your friends are dying
And it's hard to hold it steady when half your friends are dead already

We got taxmen coming around the back in their kevlar vests
Militia men cooking up a batch of the crystal meth
We got wars going down in the middle west
We got wars going down in the middle western states
Kevlar vests against the crystal flakes

I've been trying to get people to call me Freddie Mercury
But people keep calling me Drop Dead Fred
It's hard to take it easy when half your friends are way too easy
It's hard to get ahead when half your friends are dead

We got taxmen coming around the back in their kevlar vests
We got militia men cooking up a batch of the crystal meth
And we got wars going down in the middle west
We got wars going down in the middle western states
Kevlar vests against the crystal flakes

And his elbow was a spiderweb
With five spiders trapped inside and he said
"You know, the last guy, I guess he didn't even have to die
But the first four looked so nice, I wanted five."
"The first four looked so nice..."

I've been trying to get people to call me Sunny D.
'Cause I got the good stuff the kids go for
But people keep calling me Five Alive

'Cause the last guy didn't really die, I just lied
And the first four didn't really die, I just lied
Too many people getting stabbed
Getting tangled up in crabs

And I've been trying to get people to call me Johnny Rotten
But people keep calling me Freddy Fresh
And it's hard to take it easy when half your friends are looking way too easy
And it's hard to stay in bed when half your friends are dead

Taxmen coming around the back in their kevlar vests
Militia men cooking up a batch of the crystal meth
We got wars going down in the middle west
We got wars going down in the middle western states
White crosses and wooden stakes

She only pays attention to the prices of cigarettes
She says she hopes they'll get cheaper
She only takes the pick-me-uppers
To counteract all the put-me-to-sleepers

She used to be a receiver
Went out deep for guys that looked like Johnny Fever
Last winter
I swear I thought she might be our savior

Went through a skater phase
Went through a raver phase
I went through a razor blade phase
I guess I went through a hundred dollars a day

It was dark along the edges of the city
But the light shined through behind the reinforced doorways
They're tipping over in the taprooms
They're shooting through the ceiling and they're bleeding on the floor

And yeah, for sure we got dosed
We hung out pretty close with some questionable folks
We got ideas from some dangerous thinkers
We put our mouths up to some dangerous drinks

Some nights we almost froze
But we rubbed up pretty close to some rock and roll promoters
Stayed up pretty late with some rock and roll performers
It's always entertaining when you're hanging out with entertainers

Went through the publicist
To try to get through to the rhythm guitarist
We got so high that the audience, they looked just like ants
Woke up with the backstage pass in my pants

She said, "I used to be a speed shooter
I went out deep for guys that looked like Alice Cooper
And last winter
They had my heart all hooked up to computers."

We didn't see the holy ghost
But the father and the son they seemed like regular folks
Jesus rolled his eyes when his dad made Jesus jokes

And he forgave me for my sins
He said, "Let this famine end and let the 2-for-1s begin
And bless the beasts and the children and the water and the waiters."
It's always so creative when you're hangin' out with our Creator

And his son, our savior
You get your picture in the paper if he lets you in his trailer
It's always so amazing
When you're finally coming down with entertainers

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

If they ask about Charlemagne
Be polite and say something vague
Like another lover lost to the restaurant raids

And if they ask why we left in the first place
Say we were young and we were so in love
And I guess we just needed space
We heard about this place they called the United States

And we found out Virginia really is for the lovers
Philly is full of friendly friends that will love you like a brother
Pensacola parties hard with poppers, pills and Pepsi
Ybor City is tres speedy, but they throw such killer parties

Killer parties almost killed me
Killer parties almost killed me

And if she says we partied then I'm pretty sure we partied
I really don't remember
I remember we departed from our bodies
We woke up in Ybor City

And if she says we partied then I'm pretty sure we partied
I really don't remember
I remember we departed from our bodies
We woke up in Ybor City

If she says we partied then I'm pretty sure we partied
I really don't remember
I remember we departed from our bodies
And we woke up in Ybor City

Holly wore a string around her finger
She said it helps her to remember all the nights that we got over
And besides, it ties her outfit all together
Holly wore a string around her finger

There are strings attached to every single lover
But they still can't even tether us together
Listen to the back of the theater, I think they really love one another
There are strings attached to every single lover

When they say great white sharks
They mean the kind in big black cars
When they say killer whales
They mean they whaled on him 'till they killed him up in penetration park

Holly wore a cross to ward them off
She said if they think you're a Christian then they won't bring in the dogs
And if they think you're a Catholic then they'll want to meet your boss
Holly wore a cross to ward them off

Yeah, there's camps down by the banks of the river
And it's sketchy in the night but they mostly lay low in the light
Hey sweet recovery, come on, won't you wade into the water with me?
You know, there's camps down by the banks of the river

When they say black and tans
You know they mean the kind from the cans
We don't got time to mix it all together
I'm a very busy man, man

She said I dig those awkward silence
'Cause I grew up in denial and went to school in Massachusetts
He said hi, I like to party on the problem blocks
And I can't stand it when the banging stops

I saw her at the party pit
She was shaky but still trying to shake it
Half naked and three-quarters wasted
She was completely alone

I saw him at the riverbank
He was breaking bread and giving thanks
With crosses made of pipes and planks
Leaned up against the nitrous tanks

And he said take a hit
Hold your breath and I'll dunk your head
Then when you wake up again
Yeah, you'll be high as hell and born again

Yeah, there's strings attached to every single lover
There's strings attached to every single lover

Your little hoodrat friend makes me sick
But after I get sick I just get sad
'Cause it burns being broke, hurts to be heartbroken
And always being both must be a drag

She's been calling me again
She's been calling me again

Your little hoodrat friend's been calling me again
And I can't stand all the things that she sticks into her skin
Like sharpened ballpoint pens and steel guitar strings
She says it hurts, but it's worth it

Tiny little text etched into her neck
It said "Jesus lived and died for all your sins"
She's got blue black ink and it's scratched into her lower back
Says "Damn right, He'll rise again" Yeah, damn right, she'll rise again

Damn right, she'll rise again

And I've been dusted in the dark up in penetration park
And I've been plastered
I've been shaking hard and searching in a dirty storefront church
And I've been plowed

But I ain't never been with your little hoodrat friend
I ain't never been with your little hoodrat friend
I ain't never been with your little hoodrat friend
What makes you think I'm getting with your little hoodrat friend?

Your little hoodrat friend got me high though
We were 17 and stuck up up in Osseo
She said it's funny how true love gets troubled by still water
And washed up in the Mississippi River

Her claddagh ring was pointed at the people
She said St. Theresa came to me in dreams
She said I ain't gonna do anything sexual with you
I'm kinda saving myself for the scene

And I've been dusted in the dark up in penetration park
And I've been plastered
I've been shaking hard and searching in a dirty storefront church
And I've been plowed

But I ain't never been with your little hoodrat friend
I ain't never been with your little hoodrat friend
I ain't never been with your little hoodrat friend
What makes you think I'm getting with your little hoodrat friend?

She said city center used to be the center of our scene
Now city center's over, no one really goes there
Back then we used to drink beneath this railroad bridge
Some nights the bus wouldn't even stop, there were just too many kids

I was waiting for my ride and I got jumped from behind
And I got punctured
I got stopped by the cops and they found it in my socks
And I got probed

But I ain't never been with your little hoodrat friend
I ain't never been with your little hoodrat friend
I ain't never been with your little hoodrat friend
What makes you think I'm getting with your little hoodrat friend?