Songtext Sideways skull The Hold Steady

Sideways skull

She ordered me Newcastle
And handed me a Marlboro
Stuck a dove in my right hand
She took a quick picture
But even when we squinted
I didn't look so much like Robert Plant

She flew a flag she made from a bedsheet
A sideways skull and a lopsided pentagram
Said asymmetrical's way more diabolical
You don't want to make it look too perfect, man
The trick is not getting cynical
She had a hairbrush mic and a fantasy band
She opened up with We Are The Champions
Went into right into Under my Wheels
I was trying to figure out how I feel

Faded denim with the buttons and badges
Laminates and backstage passes
Jacket held together by the rock band patches
They let her smoke but she can't have matches
After last week's pyro disaster
She'd like me better if I didn't wear glasses

She said we're gonna do a show at The Pyramids
She said she needs to take a call from her lawyers
Introduced me to the dudes that she's calling her crew
An assortment of sad self destroyers
Sitting six to a table in the room off the kitchen
Telling stories about things they imagined
Like after the show we got roofed on the Reeperbahn
Woke up in a video cabin
I was rolling my eyes at the ritual lies
Ok, maybe half of that happened

She bites down on the the caplet
And the blood comes from her mouth
But it's hard to fully rock in a halfway house
The band would be better if they weren't such burnouts
The Beatle boots and the glam rock top hat
Isn't gonna make any difference
It never works when no one listens

Faded denim with the buttons and badges
Laminates and backstage passes
A jacket held together by the rock band patches
They let her smoke but she can't have matches
Bites down on the capsule and
The blood comes from her mouth
But it's hard to really rock in a halfway house
The pesky problem of the the tepid turnout

I said I've got a band too
We're called The Price of Progress
We've got a reputation as New Hampshire's hardest
Our singer's psycho and our fans are violent
Once they let me loose we're probably touring Europe
Morning meetings in the room off the kitchen
New medication for the same old depression
It never works when no one listens
But it's sure nice to meet some fellow musicians