Talking Since Leaving
(formerly: Dreaming in Crinoline)
Words and music: Alvah Allen
Written in Austin or right after Alvah returned to Jax from Austin, circa 1992
There is no recording of Alvah singing this, but Ward’s version can be heard here on the new release, In a Spree Across the South.
Lyrics:
Well, me and Ernie and Grover
got to talking it over
and we’re headed down the block
on the next steamroller
we don’t care where we go
joking with the Chicanos
and trying to avoid flattening children
I told my fellow jailbird
“You see it went like this
I moved out to Texas
and got me an accomplice
well, she wasn’t much for sleeping
but she did possess
a Veronica Lake kind of drowsiness
She said, “Let’s save gas, baby, let’s carpool
first you can take me by your bank
and then I’ll take you to school”
She said, “I’d never ask you to leave me
but I wish that you would” and
“I don’t know what’s got you, son,
but it’s got you good”
And now she’s five months pregnant
and six months gone
I got my beer in my hand
I got my cigarette going
she says she’s gonna marry him
she’s drifting off to sleep again
I always dreamed in black and white,
she always dreamed in crinoline
I ain’t been doing a lot of talking since leaving
Well, it’s a sad tale, but I’ll try and recount it
I started living in the ledger
with my father’s accountant
he said, “Your calculations are a little off
you’re developing a nasty cough
and your golf game don’t really
seem to be improving”
Now it’s just me and Mrs. Marple
on the big blue marble
we’re working out the mysteries
and digging up the plain-to-sees
she says, “You look like Poirot,
a little like Hercules, although”
“surely, Mrs. Marple, you must be joking”
And now she’s five months pregnant
and six months gone
I got my beer in my hand
I got my cigarette going
she says she’s gonna marry him
she’s drifting off to sleep again
I always dreamed in black and white,
she always dreamed in crinoline
I ain’t been doing a lot of talking since leaving
Well, there’s another detail
that bears relating
first we moved in together
and then we started dating
I ended up loving
she ended up not equivocating
she said, “that’s not singing
you’re doing, son, that’s compensating”
They can call me the albatross,
but I don’t care
you know it only reminds me of Baudelaire
he said, “That bird’s pathetic on the deck
but you should see him in the air”
And now she’s five months pregnant
and six months gone
I got my beer in my hand
I got my cigarette going
she says she’s gonna marry him
she’s drifting off to sleep again
I always dreamed in black and white,
she always dreamed in crinoline
I ain’t been doing a lot of talking since leaving
But now I’m staying in the cupboard
with my best friend’s lover
and I’d invite her to tea
just to see what’s become of me,
but there’s something in the sugar
and my best friend’s lover says,
“Why don’t you try my aunt Liz’s recipe,
she said stop stirring, stop stirring,
stop stirring, start listening”