Somebody's Shadow

(album: Tarpaper Sky - 2014)

I've seen her in the street light once
All edgy, black and white
A flash of incandescence
Shape shifting in the night
I spied her in a clearing
Out beyond the switching yard
I've seen her in a fever dream
And the Empress tarot card
On every crooked sidewalk
I've ever stumbled down
Where all roads lead to nowhere
On the other side of town

She's leaning on a lamp post
Or slumped against the wall
Sneaking down the alley
Behind the billiard hall
There in a cafe window, a figure so forlorn
She's making me the enemy of every oath I've sworn
Has anybody seen her now?
Pray tell me what you hear
'Cause I just can't get over
How she shed me like a tear

Somebody's shadow
Is pulling out the stops
Somebody's shadow
Probably oughta call the cops
Somebody's shadow
Is sneaking up behind
Somebody's shadow
Made a madhouse of my mind
A perfumed apparition
Out there fading into black
Somebody's shadow
Like a neon heart attack

She's lipstick on the Pall Mall butt
In an ashtray by the bed
Wine glass in the bathroom sink
And a porch light flaming red
Her eyes are cornsilk vapors
And her hair's like oil drum fire
The hoot owls in the belfrey
Back-announce her heart's desire
Is anybody out there now
And can you hear my voice?
The moondance on the rooftop
Is the phantom lady's choice

Somebody's shadow
Is making me a wreck
Somebody's shadow
Like a noose around my neck
Somebody's shadow
Is making me a slave
Somebody's shadow
Is digging me my grave
This paradise called yesterday
Is what I miss the most
'Cause somebody's shadow
Still haunts me like a ghost