brooklyn betty

He leans against a telephone pole

On Ohio and State

Beating on a trash can

Singing his way to Grand

The fiddler has lost his guitar

He counts hours by nickels and quarters

He’s a ghost to the unknown man

On weekends, weekdays, around 8 and 5

At lunch when red lights shine

All the concert’s times 

The crowds gather all around

Listening to his one man band

Just to walk right by, moving on

With a few head nods, hat tricks of dimes

It’s been hours since he last stood

Each time and step, a curtain call

To play for the next passerby

Is he gonna make it by the next rain

Will he make it to the end

Dance his last dance with a grocery cart

Outlast all the clapping hands

The sad story of an endless mission

With an inevitable end

The doors will hit you when you’ve run

Hit you in the face during a storm

When it rains, the bees, they pour and swarm

They’ll hit you no matter

What you’ve done a hundred times

You’ll soon find out that all the right you’ve sung

Has caused so much wrong

And all the signs you’ve followed

Have been switched along the way

Right when the bus arrives

Right when the bus departs

Right in front of the checks cashed

The grocery mart

Ads for huevos, carne and leche

The driver has no worries

You’re just one ant marching all alone

The driver’s attitude is as strong as his horn

It’ll take more to prove he’s been doing wrong

You’re wearing red with a phobia for bulls

There’s nothing coming from down the street

Except midsized cars and pickup trucks

You damn near made that bus

How will you ever make it home

You have no horns nor are a matador

Trapped in red, with no bricks of gold

You find the earlier you leave

The more you’re late

You’re never able to get ahead

The sad story of an endless mission

With an inevitable end

The doors will hit you when you’ve run

Hit you in the face during a storm

When it rains, the bees, they pour and swarm

They’ll hit you no matter

What you’ve done a hundred times

You’ll soon find out that all the right you’ve sung

Has caused so much wrong

And all the signs you’ve followed

Have been switched along the way

Luck is all that you ever, never find

You run, for what’s not trying to hide

It rolls along as you watch

As it turns the other way

The puzzle pieces are lost

Their crumbling apart

A deteriorating plan of standing and waiting

The schedule shouts you got ten minutes

To stand and listen

To conversations, screams and off beat remarks

With no built relations

But you’re stuck in adverse conditions

Standing for an inevitable walk

The next one will never be on time

You weren’t even given a chance

Judged by the onlookers you step left then right 

It’s only getting darker as you’re baking

In the heat of fright, the criticisms of the dark

Whispers are louder when senses are geared

You’re ears are sticking straight up

The destination is ahead, the end

Each second seems like three

Clammy from perspiration

Your hands squeeze tight

For all that you feel you need 

The doors will hit you when you’ve run

Hit you in the face during a storm

When it rains, the bees, they pour and swarm

They’ll hit you no matter

What you’ve done a hundred times

You’ll soon find out that all the right you’ve sung

Has caused so much wrong

And all the signs you’ve followed

Have been switched along the way

You’ve later finally made it

Grateful for the misfortune

The end is surprising

You see him leaning against the telephone pole

Playing your song

You got just enough for one dinner

Drop all your coins in his cup

That night has made you a little wiser

The fiddler a little richer

As you both scribble your own stories

Still working on the end

Aren’t you glad you made it, it’s not the end