INTRO — lonely piano, faint xylophone] These are not my trousers. That is not my coat. And somebody— has buttoned me wrong. [VERSE 1] I woke with whiskey in my blood Though whiskey wasn't all A borrowed collar scraped my throat Two strangers walked the hall One called me Henry, one called me John Neither knew me well They dressed me in another man's clothes And rang another bell [PRE-CHORUS] “Your name?” I gave them mine. They laughed and gave me theirs. [CHORUS] AN ILL-TAILORED VOTE IN AN ILL-TAILORED COAT A NAME IN MY MOUTH THAT STICKS IN MY THROAT BUTTON ME UP AND WALK ME BELOW— I'VE BEEN HERE ONCE. “No, sir.” “You've nowhere yet to go.” [VERSE 2] A paper passed beneath my hand A mark I couldn't read A gentleman congratulated me For choosing what he'd need Then down an alley, through a door They stripped me to the bone Red waistcoat, boots a size too small— And suddenly I'm someone else. [CHORUS] AN ILL-TAILORED VOTE IN AN ILL-TAILORED COAT THEY POUR ME A DRINK AND TIGHTEN MY THROAT ANOTHER DOOR ANOTHER NAME— HOW MANY TIMES CAN ONE MAN BE THE SAME? [VERSE 3] By evening walls were breathing The gaslights bent like reeds My tongue belonged to laudanum My hands belonged to thieves They pushed me toward another room I heard the latch behind And something in that little click Put earth upon my mind. [BRIDGE — music constricts] Don't close the door. I know that sound. Don't— close— the— [door shuts] There are coffins made of timber. There are coffins made of stone. There are coffins made of other men Who swear you're going home. [VERSE 4] By midnight I had been a clerk A sailor and a groom A dead man's jacket hugged my ribs Like boards inside a tomb “Again,” they said. Again I went. Again the paper came. By then I couldn't tell you If they'd stolen my vote— or my name. [FINAL CHORUS — increasingly unstable] AN ILL-TAILORED VOTE IN AN ILL-TAILORED COAT SEW UP THE POCKETS AND BUTTON THE THROAT CHANGE ME AGAIN BUT BEFORE I GO— Tell me— when you bury a man alive... does he still get a vote? [OUTRO — xylophone, then silence] “Your name?” ... “Your name, sir?” ... [three knocks from somewhere below]
