T-Shirt Tux

from Thrashing Thru The Passion by The Hold Steady

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lyrics

There's that girl from your work and she's here with some guy.
He's got a t-shirt tux and a piano key tie.
The rest of us were rolling our eyes
At the handshake he did with the doorman.
But that's how he gets the stuff that makes him feel so important.

And we all need something to get thru the night.
'Cause the kitchen gets hot and the fingers get fried.
Pontius Pilate played to the crowd and
They all thought they knew what they wanted.
And everyone's sorry when they see that it's dawn.
I assumed that's the reason we do this?
And me and the guy with the piano key tie
Are probably going to play right thru this.

Tiny little triumphs. Massive bloody failures.
I heard that there are sailors who dread coming ashore.
I guess it's true. It's true I guess.
But tonight I fear my sensors aren't receiving at their best.

Everyone's acting like they hate that they're here.
Baring their teeth and sharpening spears.
The stuff that they put in the punchbowl tonight
Makes it too hard to pay much attention.
But your war of attrition turned out to be a major attraction.

A boy and a girl were draining their beers.
He said Stalin was a weatherman to start his career.
Johnny Cash was in the service
When the news came thru the wire.
And it's weird how you feel when bad people die.
She said yeah I guess, whatever.
All your fun little facts are never going to keep us together.

We'll all be doomed once we leave this room.
We spinning thru the turnstiles and we're sleeping in our shoes.
We're sad and stoned when were all hooked up at home.
But when we leave the house we're homesick.
Got the disconnection blues.
There were multiple dispensers
And some friends we couldn't use.

There's a candle on the table.
There's a photo on the fridge.
There's a bunch of things we said we're going to do
Then never did.
Sometimes it's all slippery sidewalks
And trying to find a place to park.
Turning on a burner that never catches spark.

They said everything's perception.
But that's not really right.
Let's all try to tell a little truth tonight.
Let's all try to tell a little truth tonight.

credits

from Thrashing Thru The Passion, released August 16, 2019

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The Hold Steady Brooklyn, New York

Wired and well connected since 2003. Stay Positive.

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