"Closing Time" -- In-depth Study
Page Two




And every drinker every dancer
lifts a happy face to thank her
and the fiddler pulls off something so sublime
that we never hear the sirens
and the cops are right behind us
and we're run into the silence
and we're busted in the glare of closing time

So we're drinking & we're dancing
and the band is really happening
and the Johnny Walker wisdom running high
and my very close companion
tears the bandage off her kingdom (syntax)
and she's rubbing half the world against her thigh

E

          so sublime
we never even hear the sirens

We don't even hear the sirens
we don't know they're right behind us
(then) till we're busted in the silence
and we're sentenced in the glare
of closing time

we don't care they're right behind us
till we're bumped against the silence
and they make us walk the line
          of closing time

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We're sketching and planning
and my very close companion

O we're crazy and we're naked
and we got a

and the very night is fragrant

with the precious distillations of desire

O we're crazy and we're naked
and the very night is fragrant
with the precious distillations of desire
In his house they's many a mansion
but my very close companion

In his house there's many a mansion
but my very close companion
rules a castle that the lord has set much higher

and we know

And my very close companion
?? every human sanction

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Oh we're crazy and we're naked
and the very night is fragrant
with the precious distillations of her ??

And the waterfalls of ??
and the (summersaults) of
          ?? halls of ??

And we don't make it when we make it
and the pained ain't earned

with the precious distillations of relief

and my very close companion
in the cellar of her mansion
in the tower where the rescued hour chime

and the resurrected truth of closing time

and my very close companion
in her broken hearted mansion
in the tower where the rescued hour chime

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O we're crazy and we're naked
and the very night is fragrant
with the precious distillations of relief
we don't make it when make it
but it's filthy and its sacred
when I press my lips on her fallen handkerchief
And my very close companion
in her broken hearted mansion
in the tower where the rescued hours chime

and it's a lonely spirit crying: "Where's the beef?"

                    break
and we make it & we make it
and it's filthy and its sacred
its a lonely spirit crying "Where's the beef?"
and my very close companion
in our chicken wire mansion
in the tower where the rescued hours chime
with my heart against her sorrow
with my seed upon her marrow
with my soul

It don't matter where you take it
when it's filthy & it's ??
and the holy spirit crying, where's the beef

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& so I never settled down
& I'm not unhappy now
& yes I'm always looking at my watch

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I'm sitting in the garden
with a darkness in my parlor
      with a sickening ?? of desire

O baby how I hungered
for the the the

O baby how I hunger
for the and the summer     for the quiet & the hunger

I'm finished and I'm broken
and the words are all unspoken
and the screams are waiting patient
          in my throat
and the doctors at the table
with their masks & miles of cable
are preparing to be noble and remote

Well it's summer and its fine and
then the winter and we're dying
& yes I have another glass of (booze) scotch

& no, I never got it alright

& yes I'm always looking at my watch

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and my very bad companion
has a brand new set of manners
and she's rubbing half the world against her thigh

I'm so drunk I want to thank her

& I forget I'm here (have) to suffer
I remember that I love her

and my very close companion
she's the angel of compassion
and she's rubing every (several) hearts against her thigh

and she's rubbing half the world against her thigh

that I forgive her on the spot
she's wild & free but seh's all I got
and

that I pick a fight with several men
I'm strong, I got the strength of ten
I'm ?? for the violin
when all the lights come on & then
          it's closing time

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I got to ?? his fiddle in
I want my baby back again
I'm strong, I got the strength of ten
And all the lights come on & then
          its closing time

My very close companion
gets the muzzle off her manners
and she's rubbing half the world against her thigh
Every drinker every dancer
lifts a happy face to thank her
& the fiddle gets off something so sublime
that I want to ?? his fiddle in
I want my baby back again
I'm drunk, I got the strength of ten
and all the lights come on and then
          its closing time

I'm struggling with the strength of ten
I nearly touch her wings and then
          its closing time

My very sweet companion
she's the angel of compassion

I'm struggling with a hundred men

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(to be tossed on the shore)
I set out for love
but I did not know
I'd be caught in the grip
of an undertow
to be spit out on this shore
where the sea hates to go
with a child in my arms
and a chill in my soul
and my heart 'bout the size
of a begging bowl
[Note: these lines form the basis of
"Undertow" on the Dear Heather album
(Thanks to Tom Sakic for the note)]

I'll love you when the sun comes up
& you

I'll remind you of your beauty with a rhyme

I'll remind you it was broken with a rhyme

and your heart shut down
     remember it was ?? with a ??

I loved you very poorly
yes I loved you for your beauty
     but I ?? forget you loved your beauty too

& I loved you for your body
& I confess it when you caught me
considering believing that your body might be you

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and though the gulf has opened wide
I'm faithful as the ocean tide
I love you with a love denied
I love you from the other side
          of closing time

I'm constant as the ocean tide

(I didn't)
Oh I loved you very poorly
I was in it for your beauty
yah but you were in it for your beauty too
and I loved you for your body
I was so ashamed you spotted me
behaving like your body might be you

I loved you with a pocket book
a centrefold, a spaniel look
a broken heart, a purple heart
with every war I didn't start

I danced for you I died for you
          when I was in my prime

I danced for you when I was old
I danced for you when I was in my prime

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