Cheap Chipped Black Nails - Graham Parker

Now that you’re back in town

You look around at everything

Well, it could be anywhere on earth

Tryin' to count your change

Inside the Asian store

But you can’t figure what it’s worth

And she stands there like a specter

On the corner of the street

And you know you can’t expect her

To be subtle or discreet, no, no, no and

Her cheap chipped black nails

Scratch the surface off a future

That just left you in the past

Her cheap chipped black nails

Pick the threads out of a suture

That was holdin' your life fast

Her cheap chipped black nails

Her cheap chipped black nails

She’s got the bulldog tamed

Docile and subservient

And now it doesn’t make a fuss

She runs with these sparky kids

Who talk into their mobile phones

Well, there must be so much to discuss

And you remember where you came from

But you don’t know where it’s gone

And you cannot find a name on The street where you came from, no, no, no and

Her cheap chipped black nails

Show a wanton skill on the game tables

The pinball and the pool

Her cheap chipped black nails

Scratch the surface off an England

That has made her hard and cruel

Her cheap chipped black nails

And you remember where you came from

But you don’t recognize, don’t recognize it now

And you can’t expect her mercy

Well, that much she won’t allow, no, no, no and

Her cheap chipped black nails

Scratch the surface off a future

That just left you, left you in the past

Her cheap chipped black nails

Pick the threads out of a suture

That was holdin' your life fast

Her cheap chipped black nails

Her cheap chipped black nails