DESCRIPTION:
Used to go down to the Grand Union pub to hear Brian Pickering do his show there once every couple of months. The Grand Union is down on the eastside, what you'd call a dive, very lively and wild, the clientele hard on the drink and low on the silver. I got the idea for this song after watching a couple one night, negotiating an affair. The flower lady came in with her dead roses and teddybears and smuggled cigarettes for sale...

BLUES & SCARLET

She said, I recognize your kind
Got big eyes, think love is blind
A coat that reeks of smoke and sin
Boots that smell like where you've been
Somewhere downwind of this night
Out there past the last red light
Said, you're holding hands with your own ghost
Then raised her glass, proposed a toast
Said, here's to you there, Mister Blues
Sweet and sour and steeped with booze
Here's to your leather and your cotton
Here's to where your spirit's gotten
Trolling bars along the skids
Here's to your wallet's wife and kids
An apple bruised and over-ripe
Blues, I recognize your type

So sharp her words, I loosed a shout
That woman turned me inside out
A joe for jazz and beat romance
An inside bet on an outside chance
And yet, for all her cut and jibe
I drank up to her diatribe
To her black heart eyes and flaming hair
The good-cop bad-cop of her stare
Said, power to you, Madam Scarlet
One part child and one part harlot
Here's to soul and scratch and boldness
Here's to fire and here's to coldness
Here's to wisdom loud and clear
Am I right to guess you live 'round here
Some hotel walk-up hotplate haven
Where even the rats go 'round unshaven?

She choked on a chuckle, bit her lip
Bumped her hip against my hip
And seeing I couldn't stand so stable
She led me to a back wall table
Said, the noise won't drown us here
And waved the waiter down with beer
Said, I had a husband once, couldn't love him
I guess you must remind me of him
That pockmarked face, hair long and curly
Those bedroom eyes grown old so early
But get this straight, Blues, you and me
We're fly-by-nights, just company
Two broken heels out hobble-ridin'
A whole lot showin' and not much hidin'
Said, I bought the beers, I paid good money
So ante up, it's your turn, honey

I lit two smokes and gave her one
Her freckles brown as cinnamon
The waiter came all hops and froth
And plunked four draft on the terri-cloth
And that woman came by with the flowers
The roses had been dead for hours
And to those sad-ass teddybears
I raised my glass and said my prayers
I need a touch, I said, so quiet
But Scarlet heard me softly sigh it
She put one hand behind my head
Kneaded me like dough for bread
Mercy fingers diggin' deep
She woke old feelings from their sleep
I had to reach my hand around to stop her
For a man to cry in a bar ain't proper

It'd take me a lifetime to confess
The things I've done out of loneliness
I kissed Miss Scarlet on the cheek
Said, hey, I've got to take a leak
Walked past the pisser and out the back
Cursed my life for all I lack
Lit a cig and took a drag, then butt it
The taste of death any way you cut it
Well, power to ya, Madam Scarlet
One part child and one part harlot
I'm a bloodshot soul, I think well of ya
And I hope you find someone to love ya
This pockmarked face and hair so curly
Bedroom eyes grown old so early
Is headed past the last red light
Somewhere downwind of this night

DL