Send the invitation for one last masquerade
Streamers and a second line to play the old charade
Nothing here and no one’s gonna rain on this parade in this old town

But the river’s running higher and the levees are untrue
The fellas at the reservoir said one more rain would do
For all you will have lost and all you will have found
Some day you may look back and say
You were inviting storms to town

Anna left the Silhouettes a couple weeks ago
Grant took to the cloth and tossed his ticket to the show
Everybody’s leaving every life we used to know would never end

Jimmy Jazz joined the high priests, tied his orthodoxy shoes
Tripped upon the grins and sins of them proxy gospel tunes
He deconsecrated his straight laces, singing some old Biloxi blues
that grew from the ground

The river’s running higher and the levees are untrue
The fellas at the reservoir said one more rain would do
For all you will have lost and all you will have found
Some day you may look back and say
You were inviting storms to town

Some shoot for the jugular, some shoot from the heart
Some just make a killing not beginning from the start
Everybody’s dying just to be born to play the part we finally found

Sun upon the rivers in the gutters on the shore
Splashing in the water and the clutter of the war
A child picks up a mask and wonders just what it was for and takes it home

But the river’s running higher and the levees are untrue
The fellas at the reservoir say one more rain will do
For all you will have lost and all you will have found
Some day you may look back and say
You were inviting storms to town

(March 2010)