Swordfishtrombones

Waits Tom

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1. Well he came home from the war
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   with a party in his head
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   and modified Brougham DeVille       
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   and a pair of legs that opened up
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   like butterfly wings
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   and a mad dog that wouldn't sit still 
   
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   He went and took up with a Salvation Army Band girl
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   who played dirty water on a swordfishtrombone
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   he went to sleep at the bottom of Tenkiller lake
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   and he said "gee, but it's great to be home." 
   
2. Well he came home from the war
   with a party in his head
   and an idea for a fireworks display
   and he knew that he'd be ready with
   a stainless steel machete
   and a half a pint of Ballentine's each day
   
   And he holed up in room above a hardware store
   cryin' nothing there but Hollywood tears
   and he put a spell on some poor little Crutchfield girl
   and stayed like that for 27 years
   
3. Well he packed up all his
   expectations he lit out for California
   with a flyswatter banjo on his knee
   with a lucky tiger in his angel hair
   and benzedrine for getting there
   they found him in a eucalyptus tree
   
   Lieutenant got him a canary bird and shaked her head with every word
   and Chesterfielded moonbeams in a song
   and he got 20 years for lovin' her from some Oklahoma governor
   said everything this Doughboy does is wrong
   
4. Now some say he's doing
   the obituary mambo
   and some say he's hanging on the wall
   perhaps this yarn's the only thing
   that holds this man together
   some say he was never here at all
   
   Some say they saw him down in Birmingham,sleeping in a boxcar going by
   and if you think that you can tell a bigger tale
   I swear to God you'd have to tell a lie...