Carlos is Crying

The singer kind of slaughtered "I Wanna Be Your Lover"

And someone went to fetch a few more pitchers

It wasn't all that crowded because the softball games had washed out in the rain

I'd slipped out of my shift on some sort of screw-up with the schedule

There's a couple newer places by the river but Skippers is mainly where we hang

Carlos had been distant since his sister went to Denver with that dickhead

The dude claimed he was a carpenter but no one ever saw him pound a nail

And Carlos knew his sister was old enough to make her own decisions

But he hopes she isn't home when they finally come to take that jerk to jail

Now Carlos starts crying

And we're all kind of frightened

Every single person at the table stops talking

And he's sobbing and shaking

And yeah, we've been drinking

But it's different for boys

He said how did this happen?

It feels like we're drifting

Are you sure we're even asking all the pertinent questions?

Turn on the burner and the butter will blacken

Don't act like this was even our choice

Mickey got up to get some money to put into the jukebox

The waitress brought some water and then quickly scurried off back towards the bar

Carlos didn't even seem to care who was taking in the breakdown

I asked him if he wanted me to offer to walk him to his car

He said how did we get here?

We started as skaters

Then you got your license and then graduation

Then I changed medications and everything after

Went sideways including tonight

You had a Screamer with trackers and OJs

And I had a Steadham with Bones and a dome tail

And if failure's a trick then we learned pretty quick

It just took a few times to get right

Man, we used to glide

We used to hang like the smoke

We'd show off for my sister

We didn't mind being broke

Now every conversation I have is about money

And I leave home in the morning but then I just keep driving

Kill off the day until you guys stop working

Then pitchers at Skippers

Now Carlos is crying

Carlos is crying

Because he didn't tell his girlfriend

That he stopped showing up at his job in the morning

And it's been a few weeks

And he knows it's not sweet

And he's sobbing and shaking

And all I can say is

I love you

I feel you

I know that you're hurting

You're scared for your sister

You haven't been working

I love you

I feel you

I'm sorry you're hurting

But turn off the burner

The butter is burning