[Verse 1]

Spent my nights in a sleeping bag smelling kerosene

Thinking fog and sand

Was gonna keep me clean

Feeding all the bluejays at the wrong address

Where they went instead

I could only guess

[Chorus]

Tell the barfly

Who runs this town

You won’t get high

You’ll just get down

Tell the barfly

It’s on his dime

You won’t get high

So do the time

[Verse 2]

Took a breath full of iodine and I overdosed

And the tide crept high

Like a watery ghost

And no one needs your kind

Of a dope sick clown

You can always find

Sitting one seat down

[Chorus]

Tell the barfly

Who rolls the dice

Your numbers up

So roll it twice

Tell the barfly

It’s on his dime

You won’t get high

So do the time

[Bridge]

Honey, I’m not the one who’s of use to you now

I get an hour’s sleep at night

And I can’t see how

You deserve all the mess that even guilt won’t allow

[Chorus]

Tell the barfly

Who runs this town

You won’t get high

You’ll just get down

Tell the barfly

It’s on his dime

You won’t get high

So do the time