Album: These Dreams Will Never Sleep: The Best of Graham Parker 1976/2015
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