Crooked Tongues

You’ve been sinking since you were young
stealing credit cards and drags of cigarettes
You’ve seen the bottoms of a thousand tinted bottles
But you can’t stop swimming (because the state lines are biting at your heels)
Did the pool halls offer you friendship?
Did the drugs wipe away your tears?
Did all the sex and drunken fanfare fill your heart while we waited for you christmas year?

You blame it all on being young ( I ain’t done nothin’ wrong)
Straight teeth but a crooked tongue ( I said ain’t done nothin’ wrong)
But Johnathan bloomed a man behind the prison bars ( I ain’t done nothin’, I ain’t done nothin’ I ain’t done nothin’)
All the while mama told him shoot for the stars.
Wake up, wake up, what have you done?

Why does the mirror bend to blend?
You’re like a parakeet in keeping
Self-obsessed in a circular sickness
You’re swallowing your tail, just to throw it back up again
Well let’s all get up and dance to the songs that were a hit before your mother was born
Though she was born a long long time ago, I think your mother would know better now.