Piles and piles
Of old magazines
Windows locked up and hidden from the street
In a crawlspace, forgotten money
People tensing and waiting to come back home
You can feel the tension in the house
The moment you walk through the door
Sudden madness allow me in again

When the first train flies past the house, miles away
The screaming starts and it feels like a minefield
Neighbors silently hiding in the shadows
There's a person locked in, behind that door -
Don't let anybody catch you turning the handle
It's a long, long night. It's going to be an awful and lonely night

Well... you can blot out the years and abandon the jungle
Cover up the tapes and refuse to look back
But your own right hand is not gonna save your soul
You have been followed! Ah, the mechanics
All the reactions that seem to attach themselves
It's been a very very very long year and it's gonna be an even longer night

And then a screen door slams; the windows break
A woman just jumps and scrapes at the hood of a car
When the car backs up into a streetlight, all of the neighbors call the cops
She falls off and the car speeds away
Headed for the border of a far away state
It's gonna mean an hour of freedom with the radio and a quarter-filled gas tank
And a quarter filled gas tank
With the high beams on
And the windows down...