A Night This Side of Dying

[Verse 1]

I remember one young sister with rainbows in her eyes

Standing on a corner with the afternoon's supply

She spoke of other places, perhaps a better road

Then she asked if I could tell her where they kept the mother lode

[Chorus]

Like a night this side of dying

Her day's inside the dropper on the shelf

When she hears her lifeline crying

Not a thing you say can stop her

When she just can't stop herself

[Verse 2]

I remember that July, the panic and the heat

The savage shine of summer, the strychnine in the street

The way they sold each other for a favor in glassine

The best of friends sold brothers for a dime of quinine dreams

[Chorus]

Like a night this side of dying

Her day's inside the dropper on the shelf

Like the shelter she's been buying

Not a thing I've got can save her

When she just can't save herself

She just can't save herself