Lyrics

I never dreamt of being more than a carnival jester
So it was such a simple gesture when I beckoned you in

You were lost upon my stoop and you took me for some simple dupe,
baited for a con that you had waiting up your sleeve

But I was not too dim to see your lack of common courtesy,
of scruples, and of honesty, and a fitting better half

And what a perfect pair we made picking pockets and hopping trains,
Yeah we loaded dice and stacked the deck from here to Santa Fe

Your sticky hands, my honest face got the better of the human race,
yeah we rode our haul from place to place like a broken Cadillac

And to think that all that robbing fuss, well it wasn't what caught up to us,
but the silent alarm within my chest that tripped each time we touched

Yeah whatever Bonnie saw in Clyde I hoped that you would feel inside
to be my lovely, thieving bride on one never-ending con

But mixing pleasure, crime, and a knife was not how you foresaw your life,
yeah you'd rather be alone than wife to me or any man

So I did not put up a fight when you stole a way one quiet night,
but you left my wallet in plain sight, well I'd almost call that love

And as I hitched my way across the plain, well the thought of you, it still remained,
like a bullet in a chamber that never got to fire

So now I wait back at home for you to knock or write or phone,
and I watch the news each night alone, but I've never seen you caught

And if one day you face the chair, just know that I'll be waiting there
to hold your hand and stroke your hair till the last beat of your heart

I never dreamt of being more than a carnival jester,
but as the memories fade and fester, I know I have been in the lion's den,
I've been buried whole and dug up again, I've been a partner and a lover and a friend