Tokyo Storm Warning

The sky fell over cheap

Korean monster-movie scenery

And spilled into the mezzanine of the crushed capsule hotel

Between the

Disney abattoir and the chemical refinery

And I knew

I was in trouble but

I thought

I was in hell

So you look around the tiny room

And you wonder where the hell you are

While the

K.K.K. convention

Are all stranded in the bar

They wear hoods and carry shotguns

In the main streets of

Montgomery

But they're helpless here as babies'

Cause they're only here on holiday

What do we care if the world is a joke(Tokyo storm warning)

We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke(Tokyo storm warning)

Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke(Tokyo storm warning)

We're only living this instant

The black sand stuck beneath her feet

In a warm

Sorrento sunrise

A barefoot girl from

NaplesOr was it a

Barcelona hi-rise

Whistles out the tuneless theme song

On a hundred cheap suggestions

And a million false seductions

And all those eternal questions

What do we care if the world is a joke(Tokyo storm warning)

We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke(Tokyo storm warning)

Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke(Tokyo storm warning)

We're only living this instant

So they flew the

Super-Constellation

All the way from

RiminiAnd feasted them on fish and chips

From a newspaper facsimile

Now dead Italian tourists bodies

Litter up the

BroadwaySome people can't be told

You know they have to learn the hard way

Holidays are dirt-cheap in the

Costa del

MalvinasIn the

Hotel Argentina they can hardly tell between us

For Teresa is a waitress

Though she's now known as

JuanitaIn a tango bar in

Stanley or in

Puerto Margarita

She's the sweetest and the sauciest

The loveliest and the naughtiest

She's Miss

Buenos Aires in a world of lacy lingerie

What do we care if the world is a joke(Tokyo storm warning)

We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke(Tokyo storm warning)

Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke(Tokyo storm warning)

We're only living this instant

Japanese God,

Jesus robots telling teenage fortunes

For all we know and all we care they might as well be

MartiansThey say gold paint on the palace gates

Comes from the teeth of pensioners

They're so tired of shooting protest singers

That they hardly mention us

While fountains fill with second-hand perfume

And sodden trading stamps

They'll hang the bullies and the louts that dampen down the day

What do we care if the world is a joke(Tokyo storm warning)

We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke(Tokyo storm warning)

Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke(Tokyo storm warning)

We're only living this instant

We braved the cold

November air and the undertaker's curses

Saying, "Take me to the Folies BergereAnd please don't spare the hearses"

For he always had a dream of that revolver in your purse

How you loved him 'til you hated him

And made him cry for mercy

He said, "Don't ever mention my name thereOr talk of all the nights you criedWe've always been like worlds apartNow you're seeing two nightmares collide"

What do we care if the world is a joke(Tokyo storm warning)

We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke(Tokyo storm warning)

Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke(Tokyo storm warning)

We're only living this instant