Lost In the Flood - Live at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK - November 1975

The ragamuffin gunner is returnin′ home Like a hungry runaway Walks through town all alone "He must be from the fort" he hears the high school girl say His countryside's burnin′ with wolfman fairies Dressed in drag for homicide They hit and run, plead sanctuary 'Neath a holy stone they hide Breakin' beams and crosses Makin′ the midnight connections As the sisters run bald through church halls, pregnant Pleadin′ immaculate conceptions And everybody's wrecked on Main Street From drinkin′ unholy blood And sticker smiles sweet and gunner breathes deep His ankles caked in mud The sticker says: "Hey, gunner man that's quicksand" "That′s quicksand that ain't mud" "Have you thrown your senses to the war" "Or did you lose them in the flood?" That pure american brother Dull-eyed and empty faced He races Sundays in Jersey In a Chevy super eight He rides ′er low on the hip, on the side he's got 'Bound for Glory′ In red, white and blue flash paint He leans on the hood telling racing stories The kids call him ′Jimmy the Saint' And the blaze and noise boy, he′s gunnin' that bitch Loaded to blastin′ point He rides head first into a hurricane And disappear into a point To there's nothing left but blood where the body fell That is, nothing left that you could sell Just junk all across the horizon A real highwayman′s farewell And someone said: "Hey, kid, you think that's oil?" "Man, that ain't oil, that′s blood" I wonder what he was thinking when he hits that storm Or was he just lost in the flood? Eight Avenue sailors in satin shirts Whisper in the air Some storefront incarnation of Maria She′s puttin' on me the stare And Bronx′s best apostle stands With his hand on his own hardware Everything stops, you hear five quick shots The cops come up for air And now the whiz-bang gang from uptown They're shootin′ up the street That cat from the Bronx starts lettin' loose But gets blown right off his feet Some kid comes blastin′ around the corner But a cop puts him right away He lays on the street, holding his leg, screamin' something in Spanish Still breathing when I walked away And someone said: "Hey man, did you see that?" "His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud" I wonder what the dude was sayin' Or was he just lost in the flood? "Hey man, did you see that?" "That cats are sure messed up" I wonder what they were gettin′ into Or were they just lost in the flood?