9th and Hennepin

Well it's 9th and Hennepin
All the donuts have names that sound like prostitutes
And the moon's teeth marks
Are on the sky like a tarp thrown all over this

And the broken umbrellas like dead birds
The steam comes out of the grill like the whole goddamned town is ready to blow
And the bricks are all scarred with jail house tattoos
And everyone is behaving like dogs

And the horses are coming down Violin Road and Dutch is dead on his feet
And all the rooms they smell like diesel and you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept there
And I'm lost in the window
I hide on the stairway and I hang in the curtain and I sleep in your hat

And no one brings anything small into a bar around here
They all started out with bad directions
And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear
One for every year he's away, she said
Such a crumbling beauty

Ah, there's nothin' wrong with her a hundred dollars won't fix
She has that razor sadness that only gets worse with the clang and the thunder
Of the Southern Pacific going by
And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet

'Till you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin
And you spill out over the side to anyone who'll listen
I've seen it all
I've seen it all through the yellow windows of the evening train