Pink-Slips [Stockholm, 2018] Songtext
von Okkervil River

One, two, three, four, go

Three brides before breakfast
These rails they just wrecked us
Right hand on my heart, oh
While my left hand snaps your necklace

Each day gets a little more scary
Holding on in a way, but just barely
Moms and dads are rationing their cash for the commissary

But I can′t stop without going all the way
It's a habit someone gave me

The nursemaid of the blank page
Canary of the American eclipse
A profiteer picking up pink-slips

And this wish just to go back, hey
When I know wasn′t ever, ever happy
Show me my best memory, it's probably super crappy


Nine years down in Texas
With sluts of both sexes
Liars, lumps, and drug addicts, and drunks
I love my friends

But I can't stop without going all the way
And I′ve been that way since ′83

Midwife of the jet life
Or a genie with a golden spliff
A prostitute paid in pink-slips

And I crashed my Cadillac in the valley of mirrors
When the call came, there was nobody here
When they came for the communists, I kissed them on the lips
Then they came for the singers, in a haze of pink-slips, oh

Oh, yeah
I said I guess I was just dreaming and drifting
I was eventually lifted
Only happy 'til the age of ten is still a gift

But we can′t go back to those 227 days
It's just a dream we all were having

Hey, mariner in the dirt trade
Oh, postman of the post-apocalypse
From Academy Awards to pink-slips


And I showered my Corvette with Moët for years
Now I′m standing in the rain drinking the champagne of beers
They say, "Who's that shadow sneaking off behind the pier?
He was rushed and then he was rattled, but now he′s finally in the clear

To be a refugee from the rat race
With his white tuxedo and his sad-face
A music group that your dad plays
Singing songs about autumn days

He's the laureate of the Granite State
Now he doesn't even write, he just riffs
And they′ll cover up his coffin with pink slips

Thank you