John Hiatt Album

Why did she wear that dress tonight
Why did she bring that stranger
She looks put out in the party lights
Which leaves us all in danger
When she drops her perfumed hankie

CHORUS:
I look for love
I look for love
I look for love
I look for love

I hate the way we carry on
These fashion consultations
Do all these wires we sing along
Require such insulation
Fused with fear or charged with anger

REPEAT CHORUS

BRIDGE:

No innocence I can claim
No treasure of stolen hearts
In every mirror I look the same
A toy soldier with missing parts
Shes adding up those second looks
While she collects advances
Like thumbing through some dirty book
They estimate their chances
When the parking lot is empty

REPEAT CHORUS

I dreamed I was being kept alive
To bear the brunt of a family joke
About which no one spoke

To multiply and divide
This hideous thing, this human kind
With something else on his mind

I was going to bed
You were saying, "I do"
Then I lost my head

CHORUS:
When I awoke
I was living this secret life
Complete with a secret dog
And a secret wife
In another zone
Address unknown
This secret life
This secret life

And I am chilled to be here
Among these ghosts so heaven-bent
With hell to pay for rent

When I am holding you near
I'm not so sure this world is real
I'm not sure how I feel

And I was going to say
"Not a whisper, dear"
Then I drifted away

REPEAT CHORUS

Come out, come out
Wherever you are
You look so near
You seem so far
This scale's messed up
The angle's wrong
Your day will come
Meanwhile, the night is long

REPEAT CHORUS

They took enough of my mind
To make a calculator
Addin' up the figures, they'll find
That love's a dumbwaiter

Waitin' for the dream to fade
Right into you hit parade
Maybe I've made that long black list
But I was born when we first kissed

CHORUS:
Not another overnight story
No overnight success
We've hung around too long for glory
Is it too late for happiness?
Yesterday is over now
And we've come too far to bow

Here comes Swifty, they're off
To chase another headline
But all the news gets soft
Before it makes the deadline

The morning paper hits my door
But I don't read it any more
Yes I know what went on last night
You made your coffin before daylight

REPEAT CHORUS

They're adding inches at our expense
To the measure of their capital worth
The next big thing is gonna dance and sing
Us all off of the face of this earth

They call it big time love
But I'm not nervous
'Cause all your turtledoves
Are out of service

And all those arc lights comb the sky
For any little birds that fly
You're all still jerks, and we're still here
Fast asleep at the big premiere

REPEAT CHORUS

These days it's hard to have fun
Looking for a little girl, a little undone
By the progress of man
By the touch of a loving hand

Maybe we touch too much
You and me, baby, I'm not good in a clutch
I'm not gonna sit and cry
Though I'm an unlucky guy
I'm forever wondering

CHORUS:
Forever yours
Forever yours
Forever opening doors
Forever yours
Forever yours
Forever

All this allegiance has me scared
They move in packs, we huddle in pairs
Two in a million one-way fares
Anybody going anywhere?

So this is the modern dance
You and me, baby, this love don't stand a chance
But I'm not gonna sit and cry
Though I'm an unlucky guy
I'm forever wondering

REPEAT CHORUS

Yours to have and yours to unfold
Who's to say we're just getting old
You're the one never done what I told her
This chip on my shoulder is
Getting smaller by the day
Just when I was getting used to getting my way
Everybody has a to pay
When love finally has her say

I guess I better speak up now
You and me, baby, I'm holding on somehow
I'm not gonna sit and cry
No, I'm just a lucky guy
I'm forever wondering, forever wondering

REPEAT CHORUS

Now your private life
Is in the public domain
And your one true love is just a lipstick stain

And your point of view
Is just a figure of speech
Well I rest my case, you're out of reach

CHORUS:
Havin' some fun
Havin' some fun now
Havin' some fun
Havin' some fun now

Well the tough get goin', and the good die young
Maybe you're the only good your mama ever done
But you wouldn't know a good thing if you saw

One, two, three
I'm down on my knees
Four, five, six
Gotta lot to fix
Seven, eight, nine
Goin' outta my mind
And it's a fast free fall
From a long hard climb

REPEAT CHORUS

And you wonder how
You ever got it so far
From a Mel Bay book
Into a long black car

And all along the way
They never made you cry
But they never got the joke
And you don't know why

REPEAT CHORUS

The party's over and the war is won
And you know what you're doin'
'Cause you know what you've done
But you wouldn't know a good thing if you saw

REPEAT CHORUS

It's that mechanical motion
Skin -tight when the nights are bloodless
Lip-sync the latest notion
From zombie drill instructors

Throw out of all the parties
Maybe it's time for me to bed
Now his eyeball's runnin'
Just like a razor down her leg

CHORUS:
Baby's joined the walking dead
Up from her grave
Another white slave
Nothin' goes in or out of her head
Never you mind
Tryin' to find
A real live girl in your bed
She's joined the walking dead

She likes this frenzy feeding
She cuts across the dance floor
Thinks she's the only one bleeding
He cuts his teeth on girls like her

Just a little more makeup
'Til she makes up for being used
He hardly knows what he's saying
She hardly knows how to refuse

REPEAT CHORUS

She's walking

With his eyes in your head
With his tongue in your bed
And your lips are swollen red
From the kiss of the walking dead

REPEAT CHORUS

Who tipped you off
How could she betray me
These hungry fingers
They found us guilty for love
And she said her lips were sealed
Easing my conscience

Now what has been done
That you were the first one to know
I thought we were sleeping
Who said that dreams don't come true?
This was her dream for revenge
She had to tell you

CHORUS:
I could use an angel
Can't refuse an angel
Got business with an angel
She was no angel

Wearing that coat
You look like an amateur spy
How come you're not angry?
She wore your heart like a charm
A bracelet of boys on her wrist
Why aren't you angry?

Here on my bed
Tears on my bed
Mixed with the dust
Of things that she said
Burning a trust
Like a salt burns the wound
Like a capsule burns up
When it enters the atmosphere
Were you consumed
From the takeoff of this doomed mission

REPEAT CHORUS

I guess we must be brothers
We share a common traitor
We cancel each other
Hoisting her elevator

I never meant to hurt you
I'll never be converted
I want the host of angels

REPEAT CHORUS

Just a basement party with some high school friends
Boys touching girls, like they did back then
But that fat boy you invited
He's getting excited

Underneath red lights he can't believe his eyes
Pushing back his tears while fingers crawl up thighs
And it all seems so damned one-sided

CHORUS:
Now he's getting excited
He's getting excited,
And he knows what happens
Now he's getting excited
His love unrequited,
Their blouses unfastened
What's it all about

He was asked to come and play his new guitar
Driven through the snow in his mother's car
Any twelve year old would be delighted

REPEAT CHORUS

This body's not his
It's no good in this world
Of muscular boys
And giggling girls
And all the pretty ones stand undivided
Now he's getting excited

Just a basement party and this is where ends
Some of us make love, some of us pretend

REPEAT CHORUS
He's getting excited
He's getting, he's getting excited
He's getting excited
He's getting, he's getting excited

Well, lots of little pieces make up the little girl
Such a tiny thing in this great big world
Well, now I've got to find out what's crackin' up
My little buttercup
I got to take her to the doll hospital

Well I bought her a dollhouse and a Corvette too
She's got everything's Barbie's got, I'm tellin' you
But every time I make a move just to touch her hair
She says, "Little boys should play with teddy bears"
I'm gonna take her to the doll hospital

CHORUS
Uh-huh, oh yeah
Baby you'll be all right
I'm gonna take you
To the doll hospital tonight
Uh-huh, oh yeah
Baby you look a fright
I'm gonna take you to the doll hospital

Well, all in love is fair
But it's the wear and tear
And words left unspoken
That leave hearts broken
But I never tore your legs off
Or threw you on the floor
Now I know baby cries a lot
But please don't cry no more

When we played doctor I must have made a mess
But I fixed her little wagon up good, I guess
She said Ken never made her heart beat so
But he lacked that certain somethin' as we all know
Now I burst her little bubble, her mind's about to go
I gotta get her to the doll hospital

REPEAT CHORUS

I get jumpy
Wanna step on the gas
Drive right out of
this place fast
She says, "Red light
I'll take those keys"
Out of my mind and
On my knees

CHORUS:
Something happens
And I don't know why
I can't seem to get my future
Out of her eyes
Something happens
And never for sure
If I could name this sickness
I'd be cured
I'd be cured

She's long distance
And it's a grind
Always static
On that line
Tear the phone out
From the wall
But in my head I
Get that call

REPEAT CHORUS

She don't wanna talk,
She don't wanna talk to me
She just wanna look,
She just wanna look through me

It's a famine
Or it's a feast
Who's that beauty
Who's that beast
Threatening murder
Or happiness
And if I do it
Will I confess

REPEAT CHORUS

Oh, Marianne
Please don't marry that insurance man

I just saw your picture in the paper
Surrounded by extensive wedding plans
Tell me this is just one of your capers
Say you haven't met with their demands

CHORUS:
Oh, Marianne
Love talks cheap and faster than I can
Oh, Marianne
Please don't marry that insurance man

I can't see you packing up his lunches
I can't see you diapering his son
You're the girl who always played her hunches
So how'd you figure out that this was one

REPEAT CHORUS

I'm not saying I grew up in love with you
I'm sayin', "Why grow up at all?"

So tell that Hoosier boy to put on clean socks
And the finest double-knits that he can wear
'Cause when that invitation hits my mailbox
I'll see you at his funeral, my dear

REPEAT CHORUS

We've been training
Now we look like each other
Face down and
Booked and printed for young lovers
Even as I write out of this song
The ink wears off but the beat goes on

CHORUS:
I pledge my edge of the razor
No minor league night in the majors
Even though we cut up, we can really cut 'em down
Though you're sharper than me, it's too late to turn around

Heavy trading
On the floor at the market
A million keys for my heart
But they'll never unlock it
We played for laughs now love is the prize
If we're playing for keeps, keep these tears from my eyes

REPEAT CHORUS

BRIDGE:

One slice of life
One lover's lane
One man and a wife
Not taken in vain
While they're cutting deals with grim reapers
Tell me, where'd you get those peepers

Well I filling out all the pages of this questionaire
But I left out all the details of this affair
They'll never get it down on the books
So they'll never know how much it took

REPEAT CHORUS