Play for Keeps

from The Burning Wolf by Babylon Tom

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lyrics

Ladies and gentlemen,
I just heard from the weatherman.
The weather tonight is cancelled and
I can’t say when it’s back again.

Ladies and gentlemen,
I just heard from the detective.
A decent little place to raise your kids
ran from the banks with the fugitives.

There’s a water color picture of a setting sun
On the wanted poster from the police station;
Two sets of prints all over the gun
But your only suspect, born with none.

Burned in the mirror at the scene of the crime:
“Not a highway left to make up for lost time.”
Now you’re doing life in a nine to five
Because you picked yourself out from the police line up.

Everything you love has got prints on the gun
But the bullet came from another one:
We traced the path to a place on high,
the shooter must have hid in the morning light,
And from the very first moment that you opened your eyes
You were bleeding to death one day at a time—
Well, everybody read the rules:
Anything will cost you everything.
All along you never knew
You play at all, you’re playing it for keeps.
Oh my Lord, I can’t believe
You never knew we’re playing it for keeps.
All along you never knew
You play at all, you’re playing it for keeps.

credits

from The Burning Wolf, released April 27, 2018

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Babylon Tom Brooklyn, New York

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