encore blues

I thought of you then something else
Turned into you
And I'm slowly arching the bridge in my back
To broken nails, clustered back room deals, and things I already forgot
Maybe it's turned away but it turns out it's much too late
To be singing these encore blues
To be scratching syrup out of this thick skin
And you can't sell piece of mind
No you can't sell piece of mind
Not in this place
I thought of something else
So don't call that doctor and tell him to rebreak my heart
I'm pretty set in my ways already
The last thing you can't do
Is sing those encore blues
And not be forbidden to think
It's the last thing you could possibly do
Is take these crooked roses and burn the empty sky
And then sing those encore blues

The tiger thinks the leopard would really trade spots
(But) The leopard thinks the tiger really earned his stripes
The owl knows not who he speaks to (no, not quite)
The door mouse is the quietest of all, caring not who enters and who goes
But the canary in the mine, he's stuck singing those encore blues
And that's just the way it goes (yes, you're right)
So don't make it the last thing you can ever do

Until it was all clear at the bottom lot
The field leveled and burned its brightest
When everything to clearer
All's well at sixteen bells
To slit the street in two
Oh, and what could you do
But watch
And sing those encore blues