John Hiatt Album

I thought I had your number - there must be some mistake
I dialled 6 - 3 - 7 - 11 - 88
I got some geezer; said his girlfriend's on the town
I said, "I've got the wrong number," and I slammed the phone down

Thought about it for a minute 'til the anger went away
I figure every dog in town is gonna have his day
Well, I could count the teardrops, or I could wonder why
Well I used to be your lover - now I don't even try

It was champagne parties and sweet love sins
Now it's warm beer at midnight and girlie magazines
I stack the empty cans up like a freshman in school
It's the kind of thing you're into when you ain't nobody's fool

Got my socks in the oven, something's growing in the sink
I can't begin to face the day without a couple of drinks
Ain't had a decent meal since you made me cry
Well I used to be your lover - now I don't even try

Memories, take a look at what you've done to me
It's gettin' so all I do is watch TV
Can't even prove that I'm alive

Well, I thought I had your number - there must be some mistake
I dialled 6-3-7-1-1-8-8
I got some geezer; said his girlfriend's on the town
I said, "I've got the wrong number," and I slammed the phone down

But I know the number's right and you're his girl
Though I wouldn't want to face it for the whole wide world
Don't come back baby, I think I'm gonna die
Well I used to be your lover, now I don't even try
I used to be your lover, now I don't even try

Well, Harry had a good job working' for the Secret Service
He had a wife and kids at home who made him awful nervous
He'd never done a damn thing you could call experimental
And he had this aching feeling that his life was accidental

So one day he burned his pinstripe suit and his leather shoulder holster
He snapped a Polaroid and made a giant wanted poster
He took it to a print shop and ordered up a thousand flyers
And walked next door to the laundromat and blew his brains out in the drier

And the tag on his toe read: Death by misadventure
Ain't that some way to go? Death by misadventure

Well, Harry's wife Estella took this matter rather lightly
She could have cried and cried but then her looks might come unsightly
She thought about her wardrobe and how much it was outdated
And how this trumped up family thing was vastly overrated

Her kids both turned against her and they took to drugs and stealing
Some junkie killed 'em both for two dime bags they were dealing
And sitting home alone disgusted by it all
She blew the sole survivor off with ninety Nembutals

And the tag on her toe read: Death by misadventure
Ain't that some way to go? Death by misadventure

So be careful how you choose your path and who you pick to go with
Some folks they take to living fast while some prefer a slow death
Some folks get confused and never quite know how they're going
When you're laid out on that slab we're all the worse for knowing

That the tag on your toe reads: Death by misadventure
What a silly way to go. Death by misadventure

Well hes got her going up and down like a yo-yo
And she never feels better than ever, just so-so
Like a shrunken head on a rear view mirror
She rides along in his atmosphere
Like furry dice or some voodoo thing
Hes got that girl on a string

Since they tied the knot he keeps her in stitches
And when she ain't banged up, shes sewing his britches
Like a line between the orange juice cans
Shes strung out on his childish demands
To meet him out by the backyard swing
Hes got that girl on a string

Girl on a string, just a little play toy
Girl on a string, for a little bad boy
Girl on a string, hes dragging her around
Girl on a string, hes tying her down

She carries his baby straddled on her hipbone
And theres another on the way, just wait till they get home
The deeper into darkness they get
The more she sees the silhouette
Of a girl who wanted pretty things
Not that girl on a string

Who'll take the only hearts they got
And throw them into the fire?
Who'll risk their own self-respect
In the name of desire?
Who'll regret every thing they've done
And who'll get the bill?
Lovers will

Who'll hurt each other all the time
And never give it a though?
Who'll like about where they've been
And hope they never get caught?
Who'll say each other's kisses
No longer thrill?
Lovers will

Lovers will do almost anything
For the thrill that only love can bring
If love is a healer, who'll be the first ones ill?
Lovers will

Who'll never know what they've got
Until its just about gone?
And whose arms will gather up whats left
To carry on?
And who'll stalk that little bit of love
That hasnt been killed?
Lovers will

We've talked it to death, cryin' on the telephone.
Nights when he drinks at home, she has to whisper throught her tears.
"Johnny," she says, "you'd never do these things to me."
But I can never make her see he's wasted such precious years.
Well, "you married the wrong guy" is all I ever say.

CHORUS:
He's a no good so and so, but she'll never let him go
Though she knows it will never work, she loves the jerk.
She loves the jerk.

He was the guy always out on the make.
I guess he had what it takes to turn the heads of pretty girls.
She thought he would change; the worst of us will settle down.
But he couldn't stay out of town, not even with this precious pearl
Now she lives with the lies and the bumps and the bruises.

REPEAT CHORUS

Well, I hang up the phone and I pretend she's in my arms.
What I wouldn't give for just one-tenth of what she gives Mister Charming.

REPEAT CHORUS

He's a no good so and so, but she'll never let him go.
Though she knows it will never work, she loves the jerk

My clothes are dirty and my shoes are worn through
And you want me to feel sorry for you
I dont know why I try to do my best
The rules are all written, girl youre giving me an oral test

I try to talk my way right next to you
But it seems the more I say
The less my words are ever true

CHORUS:
I'll say it with flowers on your wedding day
I'll say it with flowers when you walk away
I'll say it with flowers, its all I have to say

You believe nearly everything you hear
That kind of faith is gonna only bring tears
Cause cheap talking is really making the rounds
You're much better off with your mouth shut tight in this town

And though our best intentions were sincere
I nominate these lovers now
For liars of the year

REPEAT CHORUS

Little girl I know you thing that I'm crazy
But I dont want to be pushing up daisies
Before I ever get over you
Dont you think we've talked enough
Don't you think that I've said enough

REPEAT CHORUS

I dreamed I did a good job and I got well paid
Blew it all at the penny arcade
A hundred dollars on a kewpie doll
I guess no white chick is gonna make me crawl

On a TWA, to the promised land
Every woman, child and man
Gets a cadillac and a diamond ring
Dont you know we're riding with the king?

Hes on a mission of mercy to the new frontier
Hes gonna check us all on out of here
Up to that mansion on a hill
Where you can get your prescription filled

On a TWA to the promised land
Everybody come on and clap your hands
Dont you just love the way he sings
Dont you know we're riding with the king?

A red cape and shiny cold 45
I never saw his face but I saw the light
Tonight everybody's getting their angel wings
Dont you know we're riding with the king?

Well I stepped out of a mirror at ten years old
With a suit cut sharp, as a razor and a heart of gold
I had a guitar hanging just about waist high
I'm gonna play that thing until the day I die

Dry your eyes pretty girl
I just got news from the outside world
I dont know how they got our names
But yesterday this letter came:

Mr. and Mrs. Resident Dweller, your lucky number is
You may already be a winner

I've suspected this for years
Still in all its good to hear
They're pulling for us in the post
To you my dear, I raise this toast

A house of our dreams, an El Dorado, a ten-speed blender
You may already be a winner

Now Ive never counted my chickens before they're hatched
And I know there is always a catch
But I've felt from the start that our hearts were the perfect match

I know you're tired of the same old dress
I know the car's been repossessed
I know this house is just a shack
But there's this love we cant hold back

Would you like a beer with your TV dinner?
Oh, my darling, you may already be a winner

Take it easy baby
But take as much as you can
Cause I got all the sweet loving
You could possibly stand
I'll take your tears for drinking water
Make your pain sweet company
You can lay all your burdens on my shoulder
Girl you mean that much to me

CHORUS 1:
I could climb the highest mountain
To show the world I could survive
But without your lovin' baby
I wouldn't even be alive
Cause your love is like blood
Cause your love is like blood to me

Like a river baby
Your love is running thru me
And with ev'ry beat of our hearts
We're defying gravity
Just a little bit further on up the stream
There's a shady resting place
Where you can lose all your blues and your troubles
With just one sweet embrace

CHORUS 2:
Now I could do a million things
Just to prove that I'm a man
But there's only one woman
Who holds my life in her hands
Your love is like blood to me
Your love it's just like blood to me

I don't care what your people say
Over my dead body will they ever take you away
And any man cutting in on me
Well he just better stop cause I can't spare a drop
Your love is like blood to me
Your love is like blood to me

She's seen the whites of crazy eyes
Been in the camps of foreign spies
Taken lovers by surprise
The captives smile
But all the while she is wearing a disguise

Better men have been betrayed
Better men have been afraid
Shes the best trick in the trade
Just another kiss
On a long hit list and shes got you made

I'd hoped I wouldnt haven't to tell you
But now it begins
The fool has rushed in
Into the waiting arms
Of the love that harms

I never knew such a hurting thing
Until she wore my wedding ring
And all the pain her love can bring
Well, I'm telling you
So you wont go through what I'm still remembering

But I can see that its just too late
The next in line is gonna have to wait
Thought we all meet the same fate
In a tomb thats sealed
With a kiss of steal from a blinding date

Ready or not she got you willing
Now it begins
The fool has rushed in
Into the waiting arms of the love that harms.

I heard the news from every fool in town
You got somebody new
And I never hurt so bad
The strangest fiction just came true

Crowds will gather for a twisted wreck
Well, all right stare at me
Its just another story of love
Thats turned into tragedy

What am I supposed to do
You want a toast from the man who's lost
The man who's doublecrossed
From cover to cover
Baby you and me were just book lovers

Since you turned away I turned the page on my happiness
Once upon a time you were mine, now I must confess
I cant bear to read the rest

It could have been a happy ending girl
Goodness knows, I tried
But I see so clearly now
Even through these tears Ive cried

You wanted love to be a fairly tale
With a sleeping beauty scene
Now another prince has come
And kissed you out of all your dreams

I'm gonna lower my standards and raise my price
I'm gonna take your lunch and your bad advice
Until my worse idea gets the big reward
Until I get out of this raggedy Ford
And into a shiny new two seater
Dress my girlfriend up like a cheetah

I'm gonna sign my checks: Yours sincerely
For all the money that you hold dearly
When my ego swells and my output dwindles
You can tell the world that youve been swindled
By the man who would have been so bitter
Had he never reconsidered

Falling up
To the top of the junk pile wearing a big smile
Falling up
To the top of the heap with my tongue in cheek
I cant sit down cause I'm falling up

Well I used to think that I had some duty
Now I only want the booty
And unless youve recently been anointed
Then dont tell me youre disappointed
In the man who would have been so bitter
Had he never reconsidered

Now I pay no mind to innovation
Just over and over with the same sensation
Till I'm a short short subject on a long tape loop
That comes and goes like the hula hoop
In one ear and out the other
Nothing there to stop it, brother

Falling up