Walking Without Frankie - Okkervil River

Throttling, hurtling — just going, going

And hurting knowing that it’s gone, and it’s going

And not knowing where — in the ground or in the air

Up the golden stair (or whatever) — it’s going

I stopped by the Lake of the Strangled Crane

It was the color of copper

I saw the crane operator

I heard the operator’s father say, «It looks like rain.»

And I had the operation because he said he was a doctor

And I was in pain

«Freedom,» or whatever, whatever you call it

It’s a stairway, or a slow ride

It’s «Rhiannon» or «Landslide»

I hear the bartender died of a broken heart and a shattered pelvis

He was buried in Kansas

It was part of a promotion

They were trying to undermine the confidence of the consumer

I saw a beautiful drummer in the web of a spider

And I wanted to save him

I saw a little boy in serious danger of growing older

And he was trapped sitting shotgun in a Cutlass Cruiser

When I’m on the street, something’s singing in my ear

And I hear a little voice all thumpthumpthumpthump-thumping in my chest

And I feel the hummingbird-fast heart in there whirring like mad

Got a spiriting feeling swimming around my head

And I haven’t even had any cocaine yet

And I don’t even want any though, I bet

It’s like some kind of sentence that passes between us that someone else said

I last saw you, Frankie, walking through that New Hampshire dew

And when you shot five thousand feet up into the grey sky, what could I do?

Now I bet you’re in space

Write me, or whatever

I feel so far away

Like I’m an old typewriter, out on the showroom floor

Like I’m the Last Starfighter and they forgot the war

And they burned my trailer

And they’re on my tail, And I’m out on tour

And I want Frankie

I want Frankie

I want Frankie

I want Frankie

I want Frankie

I want Frankie

I want Frankie

Oh man.

All right