The beauty salon at the end of the alley
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Is jam-packed with sailors
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Try asking one what time it is
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And he'll answer: "I never knew."
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The postcards of the hanging
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Are on sale for a hundred lire each
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The blind inspector behind the station
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For one clue reads you your bad luck
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And the restless law-enforcement
_____
Are looking for something wrong
_____
While my lady and I lean out tonight
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Cinderella looks so easy
_____
Every time she smiles she grabs you
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She really recalls Bette Davis
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With her hands resting on her hips
Breathless Romeo shows up
_____
And shouts to her: "You're my love!"
_____
But somebody tells him to go away
_____
And never try again
_____
And the only sound that stays
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When the ambulance drives off
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Is Cinderella sweeping the street
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While the dawn is killing the moon
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And the stars have almost hidden
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The lady who reads fortune
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Has left with the innkeeper
_____
Except for Abel and Cain
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Everybody's gone to make love
_____
Waiting for the rain to come
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To water down joy and pain
_____
Is sharpening his pity
_____
He'll go to the Carnival tonight
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The Three Wise Kings are desperate
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Baby Jesus has gotten old
_____
And Mr. Hyde cries dismayed
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Seeing Jekyll laughing in the mirror
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Ophelia's behind the window
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Nobody ever told her she's pretty
She's already an old spinster
_____
Her death'll be very romantic
_____
Turning into gold she'll go away
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For now she paces back and forth
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Einstein disguised as a drunk
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Has hidden his notes in a trunk
He passed through here an hour ago
_____
Heading toward the farthest Thule
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He seemed so shy and scared
_____
When he asked to stop here a while
But then he started smoking
_____
And to see him you'd never say it
_____
But he was famous some time ago
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For playing the electric violin
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Everyone's getting ready for the big party
_____
Somebody's starting to get thirsty
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The Phantom of the Opera
_____
Has dressed in priest's clothes
_____
He's force-feeding Casanova
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To punish him for his sensuality
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He'll kill him speaking of love
_____
After poisoning him with pity
_____
And while the Phantom screams
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Three girls have already stripped
_____
Casanova's about to be raped
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Well done, prankster Neptune
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The Titanic's sinking in the dawn
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Every berth in the lifeboats is taken
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And the captain shouts: "There's still room!"
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And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
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Are trading punches on the bridge
_____
The calypso players laugh at them
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While the sky is moving away
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And leaning out their windows on the sea
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Everybody's fishing mimosa and lilac
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And nobody has to worry anymore
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At midnight sharp the cops
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Do their usual job
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They snap handcuffs round the wrists
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Of those who know more than them
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The prisoners are dragged
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Up an impromptu Calvary nearby
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And Corporal Adolf has warned them
_____
They'll all go up the chimney
_____
And nobody'll manage to cheat their fate
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I got your letter just yesterday
_____
You tell me everything you're doing
_____
Don't ask me: "How are you?"
_____
These people you keep talking about
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They don't look like monsters to me
_____
They don't look like heroes to me
_____
And don't send me your news again
_____
If you insist on mailing your letters