Lost Johnny

(album: Hall Of The Mountain Grill - 1974)

You only get a single chance
The rules are very plain
The truth is well concealed inside
The details of the game
You can see it coming
You can hear it from afar
It's pale and it flickers
Like a faded movie star

And up there in the castle
They're trying to make us scream
By sticking thumb tacks in her flesh
And cancelling the dream

Can you find the valium?
Can you bring it soon?
Lost Johnny's out there
Baying at the Moon

The time has come for you to choose
You'd better get it right
Berlin girls with sharp white teeth
Are waiting in the night
But you oughta really get some
It surely can't be hard
There's always trouble waiting
When you leave your own back yard

And underneath the city
The alligators sing
About how the puppets cannot dance
Since someone cut the strings

Run and get the morphine
For God's sake make it brief
Lost Johnny's out there
Looking for relief

Now Simon looks so evil
And you know he really tries
But every time he makes a play
That vital number dies
And Sally buys her underwear
From a store where no-one goes
She makes it big in photographs
On the strength of what she shows

And here inside the waiting room
The radio still screams
And we're all taking Tuinal
To murder our young dreams

Run and fetch your credit card
Try to make it quick
Lost Johnny's out there
Trying to turn a trick