Claudia Bettinaglio Swordfishtrombones
Well, he came home from the war with a party in his
head
And a modified Brougham DeVille(2)
And a pair of legs that opened up like butterfly wings
And a mad dog that wouldn't sit still
He went and took up with a Salvation Army Band girl
Who played dirty water from a swordfishtrombone
He went to sleep at the bottom of Tenkiller Lake(3)
He said, 'Gee, but it's great to be home'
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 Ballantine's each day
And he holed up(4) in room above a hardware store
Cryin' nothin' there but Hollywood tears
And he put a spell on some poor little Crutchfield girl
And he stayed like that for twenty-seven years
He packed up all his expectations, he lit out for
California
With a flyswatter banjo on his knee
With Lucky Tiger(5) in his angel hair, and Benzedrine
for getting there
They found him in a eucalyptus tree
Lieutenant got him a canary bird, and skanked her head
with every word
And Chesterfielded moonbeams in a song
He got twenty years for lovin' her from some Oklahoma
governor
Said everything this doughboy(6) does is wrong
Now some say he's doin' the obituary mambo
Now some say that he's hangin' on the wall
Perhaps this yarn is the only thing that holds this man
together
Some say that he was never here at all
Some say they saw him down in Birmingham(7)
Sleepin' in a boxcar goin' by
And if you think that you can tell a bigger tale
I swear to God you'd have to tell a lie
