The Angel

(album: Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. - 1973)

The angel rides with hunchbacked children, poison oozing from his engine
Wielding love as a lethal weapon, on his way to hubcap heaven
Baseball cards poked in his spokes, his boots in oil he's patiently soaked
The roadside attendant nervously jokes as the angel's tires stroke his precious pavement

The interstate's choked with nomadic hordes
In Volkswagen vans with full running boards
Dragging great anchors, following dead-end signs into the sores
The angel rides by humping his hunk metal whore

Madison Avenue's claim to fame in a trainer bra with eyes like rain
She rubs against the weatherbeaten frame and asks the angel for his name
Off in the distance the marble dome reflects across the flatlands with a naked feel off into parts unknown
The woman strokes his polished chrome and lies beside the angel's bones