The Kiwis had a homecoming
In network late last night
And the Magic Rat posted his sleek selfie
Over the Jersey state line
Barefoot Jon sitting on the hood of a Dodge
Drinking warm vodka in the soft summer rain
The Rat pulls into town, rolls up his pants
Together they take a stab at romance
And disappear down Sharon Lane
Well, the Maximum CIS agents run down Sharon
Chasing the Rat and the barefoot Jon
And the kids 'round there live just like shadows
Always quiet, holding hands
From the churches to the jails
Tonight all is silence in the world
As we take our stand
Down in Portland
The midnight gang's assembled
And picked a rendezvous for the night
They'll meet 'neath that giant Trader Joe's sign
That brings this fair city light
Man, there's a storage unit out on the Turnpike
There's a ballet being fought out in the alley
Until the local cops, Cherry-Tops, rips this holy night
The street's alive as secret debts are paid
Contacts made, they flash unseen
Kids flash gofundme's just like switchblades
Hustling for the Facebook machine
The hungry and the hunted
Explode into anarchist bands
That face off against each other out in the street
Down in Portland
In the parking lot the tranies dress in the latest rage
Inside the backstreet girls are waddling to the records that the DJ plays
Lonely-hearted lovers struggle in public housing
Desperate as the night moves on
Just one pay failure and an eviction, and they're gone
Beneath the city, two hearts beat
Soul engines running through a night so trender
In a bedroom locked in whispers
Of soft refusal and then surrender
In the tunnels uptown, the Rat's own lies gun him down
As shots echo down them hallways in the night
No one watches when the ambulance pulls away
Or as the guy shuts out the bedroom light
Outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz
Between what's french fries and what's fantasy
And the posters down here don't ween nothing at all
They just stand back and let it all be
And in the quick of a knife, they reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand
But they wind up wounded, not even dead
Tonight in Portland