Bread Man
Morning the bread man pulls up in his van
In through the back, please
He's smiling at me and I'm smiling at him
Bringing the bread when the boss isn't in
Over the counter, small talk and banter
Give him an answer
Yes when he asks can he see me sometime
He's off in his truck and I'm out of my mind
Dreaming that someday he'll deliver me just like a king he'll
Waltz into the diner saying I'm his bakery queen
Oh, he's so sweet, he knows the moves when we're between the slices
Comes to me with no surprises like a movie scene
His leading lady in a romance film
Know that you're married, wife must be harried
Put up with your jive
Crosses her fingers when you cross the door
Out with boys but does she know for sure?
Romantic increase, fling off your hairpiece
Bald pate is manly
Willing to handle whatever's in store
I take a break at a quarter to four
Walking along the blocks down Dyckman Street I know where there's a
Bench along the Hudson, dear, where we can rest our feet
I know you're smart, I know you hold a PhD
In the subtle age-old art of smooching wizardry
Bea turns to me and she says,
"Ay, pero tu sabes que nena, ven paca, dejame preguntarte algo... Ese
muchacho, yo creo que te gusta."
"Oh Bea, you don't understand. You see, he's married to some little twinkie."
"Ay, que pena porque es muchacho tan chulo!"
See your wife's showing, keep her from knowing
Clean up behind us
Peony Pink on a porcelain mug
My pubic hair left around in the tub
Under the table, meet where we're able
Our favorite hang-out
Debtors Anonymous, Monday at noon
Our Lady of Martyrs
The back of the room
(words and music by Stefanie Singer
and Ken Sorkin)
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Daughter of an Alcoholic Man
Waiting in my brand new dress
My school will hold a dance
A Father-Daughter Dance
But his car never shows
I wait on tippy-toes
Fully grown and taken with
A string of absent men
Old feelings come again
(CHORUS)
I give my cautious love
My apprehensive hand
The daughter of an alcoholic man
At the bar they turn to see
Hair sway to and fro
A dress cut way too low
But beauty only shines
First from a father's eyes
Hope you never learn those awful
Places where I've been
The things that pass for sin
(CHORUS)
End the affair
And the blackness comes
Sleep in the day
With the lights on
Marlboro Lights
And some Vicodin
Promised you would come around
The weekend's here and gone
Completely strung along
Your lies are so damn weak
Your drinks are so damn strong
Fearing I won't hear from you
I swallow all my pride
Give all I have inside
(CHORUS)
(words and music by Ken Sorkin)
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His Own Native Language
(CHORUS)
There's a thousand different words for love
In his own native language
In the country he hails from
I just know some phrases here and there
In his own native language
Where his crowd is from
No one on these streets of ours
Has ever heard that tongue
Watch them yell and swear
Tangled string of nonsense words
That stretch from here to there
This country has a hundred words for saying jackpot prize
A hundred words to say what makes me rich will make you poor
A hundred words that translate I was elsewhere at the time
A hundred words to say possession's nine-tenths of the law, but
(CHORUS)
Sunday dinner guest
Through some awkward pantomime
Desires are expressed
See this meal complete
He and I excuse ourselves
And wind up in the street
We loiter on the stairs outside his building, try keeping warm
The moon above has travelled all that distance from his home
The night is still and we in concentration try to guess
Which road to take, without the words which make our feelings known, and
(CHORUS)
(words and music by Ken Sorkin)
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Jacob and Rachel in the Fields
Laban was the owner of goats and sheep and oxen
Owned the hectares far and wide which he grazed his flocks in
In the fertile lands
At the point where time began
Rachel was his daughter who tended all his creatures
Shepherdess of lovely form, blessed with pleasing features
Brushed her hair at night
Lost in pools of solitude
Soon a stranger from the plains would come
To break up the placid mood
Jacob came from foreign sands as a weary traveler
Glanced on Rachel's beauty and swore he had to have her
Laban offered up
Rachel's hand for service paid
Jacob worked for Rachel thus, as she was the reason
So he might go into her after growing season
Laban stroked his beard
Harbored motives not well seen
Watched events take form, poured wine till dawn
And nodded approvingly
Jacob labored in the field
Till his wishes were revealed
Wishes were revealed
Time drifted slowly
Time moved so slowly that there seemed no time at all
Time drifted slowly
Time moved so slowly that there seemed no time at all
Jacob stood with Rachel as evening pastures found them
Firmament of heaven's sky, stillness all around them
There they did conspire
To depart for kindred lands
Rachel packed the camels to flee though Laban's sleeping
Stole the household idols within her father's keeping
Laban soon awoke
More surprised he could not be
Through the cool of the night the lovers' flight
Continued so biblically
(words and music by Ken Sorkin)
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March to the Sea
I came home from
Shock and Awe
I never fired one shot
It took some time to just return
The issue that I got
Returned my weapon to Armory
My gear back to Supply
Finance gave me a ticket North
I'd be back home that night
I missed my flight from Charlottesville
While in the airport lounge
I just kept staring at MTV
And had another round
I dialed my mother, I dialed my wife
But then hung up instead
Rented a standard four-door car
And headed South, I guess
Pulled into a convenience store
To buy a bag of chips
Black girl with her hair piled up
Was finishing her shift
Told her that I'd defended her right
To serve those Slurpee shakes
Least she could do was wait for me
When she got off at eight
Must have fell asleep between her and
Her little girl of three
America's Funniest Home Pet Videos
Was flashing on tv
Hung around till late July
Repaired some old antiques
Split one day, continued on
My march to the sea
(words and music by Ken Sorkin)
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Solid Citizen
Damn, we went and lost our liquor license
All for serving drinks to minors
I swear that girl had cleavage out to here
All that rouge and pencil liner
Damn, we went and lost our steady clientele
A bunch of mercenary boozers
I can see them drinking 'cross the street
Pointing fingers like accusers
Damn, that bar is overrun by college girls
Dropping cash like it's water
Revealing tops with cleavage out to here
Like some mammary disorder
Damn, they sure enjoy those music videos
I don't even get that channel
They ask for drinks I've never seen before
What's a neutered cocker spaniel?
Lost in my daydreams
I dwell on thoughts so rapturously
Chamber of Commerce
They hold a lunch in honor of me
Girls in bikinis
Present a plaque for man of the year
Standing ovation
And I'm the envy of all my peers
Damn, my partner's doing time for bigamy
I guess that puts the place in my hands
My help is stealing from the register
Lifting quarters from leukemia boxes
Damn, I need a more developed business sense
A bit of P.T. Barnum know-how
Some kind of gimmick that'll draw the crowd
Like a Polynesian luau
(words and music by Ken Sorkin)
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Three Sailors
We are three sailors out on shore leave
In a city only dreamed of
And we sing in greasepaint voices
Harmony like you can't believe
Our pass expires next day sunrise
There's so little time among us
Have you ever seen three sailors
Dance in the street with so much grace?
(CHORUS)
Can you help me?
I have to reach the center of this night
And can you promise
What little time I've got will turn out right?
I guess I want what any man does
Want a woman who will love me
And we'll sing our duet number
Like we rehearsed it all our lives
So driver, take me where the lights are
You can leave your meter running
I've saved all my seaman's wages
So I can blow them all tonight
(CHORUS)
Thanks for that charming night of madness
And I'm sorry 'bout your new gown
Gee, I followed the libretto
Wherever it was possible
And as we part along the shoreline
Three real dames and we three sailors
We refrain our opening number
Each person's life so musical
(CHORUS)
(words and music by Ken Sorkin)
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Who's on the $3 Bill?
She bribes her way here from her homeland
In dangerous times
It's true she went down on three different ships and survived
She's seen Jackson's face on the twenty, yes sir
And Lincoln is on the five
But there is one cat who still draws a blank in her mind
(CHORUS)
And what she'd like to know
Is who's on the three dollar bill?
Does it still circulate?
Why is it she hasn't seen one much of late?
And what she'd like to know
Is who's on the three dollar bill?
Tell her, who's on the three dollar bill
I take her down to Immigration
In my checker cab
She puts lipstick on in my rearview mirror with care
She asks where the homeless have all once came from
And she asks where they go at night
But one question burns as foremost concern in her mind
(CHORUS)
She says she'll return to her homeland
Right after the war
She watches the news as she paints her toenails some more
She sends money home to her starving family
And they send her a thank-you note
They ask many questions, but one question haunts them the most
(CHORUS)
And what they'd like to know . . .
(words and music by Ken Sorkin)
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