The Vandal And The Saint - David J

Shielding my eyes against the shatterlight dawn

As inviting as the wrong end of a gun

Reluctant farewells

Then a taxi ride back to the lonesome hotel

Sharing a room with the Butcher

Looking for her street on the map

I had half a mind to go back there

I had to choose between the vandal and the saint

She looked like a German film star

Dressed in limousine black

A dancer portraying a waitress

Both ballet and burlesque

I couldn’t take my eyes off her

She said she liked the soft songs best

Oh, Elvira

A kiss for the vandal and the saint

I felt like butter on a knife’s edge

In love with the handsome beast

And the line between life and stupid glory

That sets the wicked pace

I am serving a residency

Here with the Frankfurt blues

The ghosts of conquests past

Walking in a dead man’s shoes

I believe in the happy idiot

In the international free state

I believe in the truth behind the paint that roars

I believe in the vandal and the saint

Oh Elvira