The Hold Steady - Sideways Skull lyrics

She ordered me a Newcastle and
Handed me a Marlboro
Stuck a dove in my right hand
She took a quick picture
But even when we squinted
I didn't look so much like Robert Plant
She flew a flag that she made from a bedsheet
A sideways skull and a lopsided pentagram
Said "Asymmetrical's way more diabolical
You don't wanna make it look too perfect
Man" the trick is not getting cynical
She had a hairbrush mic and a fantasy band
She opened up with "We Are The Champions"
Went right into "Under my Wheels"
I was tryna figurе out how I feel

Faded denim with the buttons and badgеs
Laminates and backstage passes
(Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh)
Jacket held together by the rock band patches
(Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh)


And they let her smoke
But she can't have matches after
Last week's pyro disaster
She'd like me better if I didn't wear glasses

She said
"We're gonna do a show at The Pyramids"
She said she needs to take
A call from her lawyers
An assortment of sad self-destroyers
Sitting six to a table in
The room off the kitchen
Telling stories about things they imagined
Like after the show
We got roofed on the Reeperbahn
Woke up in a video cabin
I was rolling my eyes at the ritual lies
Okay, maybe half of that happened

She bites down on the caplet and
The blood comes from her mouth
But, it's hard to fully rock
In a halfway house
(Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh)
The band would be better if
They weren't such burnouts
(Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh)
The Beatle boots and the glam rock tophat
Isn't gonna make any difference
It never works when no one listens


Faded denim with the buttons and badges
Laminates and backstage passes
(Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh)
A jacket held together by
The rock band patches
They let her smoke but she can't have matches
(Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh)
Bites down on the capsule and the
Blood comes from her mouth
But, it's hard to really rock
In a halfway house
The pesky problem of the tepid turnout
(Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh)
I said, "I've got a band too
We're call The Price of Progress
We've got a reputation as
New Hampshire's hardest"
(Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh)
"Our singer's psycho and our fans are violent
Once they let me loose
We're probably touring Europe"
(Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh)
Our morning meetings in the
Room off the kitchen
New medication for the same old depression
It never works when no one listens
But, it's sure nice to
Meet some fellow musicians