40 Bucks - The Hold Steady

40 bucks and her favorite band

She stayed out too late again

The band’s back in Birmingham

She didn’t go to work again

She’s always been a pretty big fan

Certain songs get scratched right in

When morning comes round again

The sadness crashes down and she said

When he first came unto me it sounded kinda like a symphony

It was hearts and horns and winds and warm and wet

This morning when the band left town it bummed me out like a birthday clown

A whole lotta drinks and a little bit of sleight of hand

40 bucks and her favorite band

Her mother loved the seventies

The leather vests and the Dungarees

Her bio-dad played bass guitar

In a five-piece out of Wichita

They had a little local hit

You can find it on the internet

They made her on the night they met

In a motel made of cigarettes

She’s never even met the dude

But she heard the song and it was pretty cool

A sad, slow waltz about a pure and simple love

There are days when she gets fatigued

She’s pretty old for this music scene

And our dreams sing-a-long to the music of our youth

40 bucks and her favorite groups

She doesn’t really do it much

But she could probably get some party stuff

She doesn’t really do it much

But she could probably get some party stuff

She says she doesn’t know the guy but she’s pretty sure he’d stop by

She barely even knows the dude but he’s come around for some other group

And when he finally calls her back she says, «Guys let me cover this

I know you don’t make much money yet, I know it mostly goes to cigarettes.»

Last night’s conquest wasn’t all that famous yet

Two twenties from her dresser while she slept

And then he left