romeo is bleeding but not so as you'd notice he's over on 18hh street as usual lookin' so hard against the hood of his car and puttin' out a cigarette in his hand and for all the pachucos at the pumps at romeros paint and body they all seein' how far they can spit well it was just another night but how they're huddled in the brake lights of a 58 belair and listenin' to how romeo killed a sherrif his knife
and they all jump when they hear the sirens but romeo just laughs and says all the racket in the world ain't never gonna save that coppers *** he'll never see another summertime for gunnin' down my brother and leavin' him like a dog beneath a car without his knife
and romeo says hey man gimme a cigarette and they all reach for their pack and frankie lights it for him and pats him on the back and throws bottle at a milk truck and as it breaks he grabs his nuts and they all know they could be just like romeo if they only had the guts
but romeo is bleeding but nobody can tell and he sings along with the radio with a bullet in his chest and he combs back his fenders and they all agree its clear that every thing is cool now that romeos here but romeo is bleeding and he winces now and then and he leans against the car doors and feels the blood in his shoes and someones crying in the phone booth at the 5 points by the store romeo starts his engine and wipes the blood off the door and he brodys through the signal with the radio full blast leavin' the boys there hikin' up there chinos and they all try to stand like romeo beneath the moon cut like a sickle and they're talkin' now in spanish about there hero
but romeo is bleeding as he gives the man his ticket and he climbs to the balcony at the movies and he'll die without a wimper like every heros dream just like an angel with a bullet and cagney on the screen
Tom Waits is one of my favorite artists, this little text does him no justice. If you like it at all look at him perform it live on youtube and it'll make you love it.