Jimmie Standing in the Rain

[Verse 1]

Third class ticket in his pocket

Punching out the shadows underneath the socket

Tweed coat turned up against the fog

Slow coaches rolling o'er the moor

Between the very memory and approaches of war

Stale bread curling on a luncheon counter

Loose change lonely, not the right amount

[Chorus]

Forgotten man of an indifferent nation

Waiting on a platform at a Lancashire station

Somebody's calling you again, the sky is falling

Jimmie's standing in the rain

[Verse 2]

Nobody wants to buy a counterfeited

Prairie lullaby in a colliery town

The hip flask and fumbled skein with

Some stage door Josephine is all he'll get now

Eyes going in and out of focus

Mild and bitter from tuberculosis

[Chorus]

Forgotten man, indifferent nation

Waiting on a platform at a Lancashire station

Somebody's calling you again, the sky is falling

Jimmie's standing in the rain

[Bridge]

Her soft breath was gentle on his neck

If he could choose the time to die

Then he would come and go like this

Underneath a painted sky

She woke up and called him "Charlie" by mistake

And then in shame began to cry

Tarnished silver band peals off a phrase

And then warms their hands around the brazier

[Chorus]

Forgotten man, indifferent nation

Waiting on a platform at a Lancashire station

Somebody's calling you again, it's finally dawning

Jimmie's standing in the rain

[Verse 3]

Brilliantine glistening, your soft plaintive whistling

And your wan wandering smile

Died down from the Hippodrome

Now you're walking off to jeers

The lonely sound of jingling spurs

The "toodle-oos" and "Oh my dears"

Down at the Argyle

Vile vaudevillians applaud sobriety

There's no place for a half-cut cowboy in polite society

[Chorus]

Forgotten man, indifferent nation

Waiting on a platform at a Lancashire station

Somebody's calling you again, it's finally dawning

Jimmie's standing in the rain

[Outro]

Somebody's calling you again, it's finally dawning

Jimmie's standing in the rain