Back Room Song

In a dingy back room in an old burned-out city
Someone is sitting and trying to look pretty
Smiling serenely and humming a ditty
She doesn’t remember the words to

She crosses her legs and she smiles at the ceiling
Shakes out the stiffness her muscles are feeling
At church she spent all morning praying and kneeling
She tries to stand up, but it hurts to

In her head she’s some other place, warmer and sweeter
Maybe she’s waiting for someone to meet her
In a room that’s not dingy with noise of the street
Her smile grows and it glows in the squalor

Maybe she’s waiting for something exciting
Somewhere away from the gangs and the fighting
Away from this place where you’re killed for your writing
And your life is defined by the dollar

Here she will sit till her smiling has faded
Here she will stay till her mind has been jaded
Till the doors have been barred and the grounds have been gated
And nobody ever refers to

Some dingy back room in an old burned out city
Where someone sat trying so hard to look pretty
Smiling serenely and humming a ditty
That she never learned all the words to