The Formal

The lessons have all been learned
The lessons have all been abjured
A top hat in a laundromat is not normal

With you since you were a kid
Can't say all the things that we did
For the sake of the syndicate
On the night of the formal

Some folks are easily led
Some things are easier done than said
Most folks you can cave in their head
Just like a squirrel

Some faith is easily found
Some unsinkable ships run aground
Some avoidable things went down
At the formal

Trapped in a nightmare, trapped in my lair
I'm a taxidermist, I'm a taxpayer
You try to get straight, you try to get normal
You try to forget about the formal

All of the teenage head
And all of the opium dread
Everyone went to bed
And everyone was cordial

A banquet and the sound of guns
Sometimes that's the way that your luck runs
Crawling over priests, crawling over nuns
At the formal

All were present and all was grand
No complaints about the union, no complaints about the band
I'll meet you at the dark end of the portal
We'll settle our differences at the formal

I've got my excuses, I've got my advice
I sincerely don't care what you do with your life
I live large, I cackle and chortle
Sometimes I feel nostalgic for the formal