On the Bus Mall Songtext
von Colin Meloy

In matching blue raincoats
Our shoes were our showboats
We kicked around
From stairway to station
We made a sensation
With the gadabout crowd
And oh, what a bargain
We′re two easy targets
For the old men at the off tracks
Who paid in palaver and crumpled old dollars
Which we squirelled away
In our rat-trap hotel by the freeway
And we slept in Sundays
Your parents were anxious
Your cool was contagious
At the old school
You left without leaving
A note for your grieving sweet mother
While your brother was so cruel
And here in the alleys


Your spirits will rally
As you learn quick to make a fast buck
In bathrooms and barrooms
On dumpsters and heirlooms
We bit our tongues
Sucked our lips into our lungs
Because we were falling
Such was our calling
And here in our hovel
But I will not mourn for you
So take up your make-up
And pocket your pills away
We're kings among runaways
On the bus mall
We′re down on the bus mall
Among all the urchins
And old Chinese merchants
At the old town
We reigned at the pool hall
With one iron cue ball
And we never let the bastards get us down
And we laughed off the quick tricks
And the old men with limp dicks
On the colonnades at the waterfront park
As four in the morning
Came on cold and boring
We huddled close in the bus-stop enclosure enfolding
Our hands tightly holding
And here in our hovel
We fuse like a family
But I will not mourn for you
So take up your make-up
And pocket your pills away
We're kings among runaways
On the bus mall
We're down on the bus mall