[Verse 1: Blues-rock female lead, big pounding drums, roaring overdriven guitar riff, raspy blues-rock wail] Twelve o'clock on a Tuesday and the shift don't stop Welders on the corner and the bread still in the shop Nobody on this street ever looked up past the wire Heads down in the engines and the rubber and the fire But they said on the radio the sun was goin' out So I climbed the tire shop ladder with my glasses and my doubt Cardboard on my nose and a soda in my hand And the light went thin and yellow like a photo on the stand [Pre-Hook: Blues-rock female lead, heavy bass guitar, drums building, raspy blues-rock wail] Lord, the birds shut up and the crickets came at noon And the air went cold like a cellar in June [Hook: Blues-rock female lead, full band, huge blues-rock chorus] Don't hand me a sliver, Lord, don't hand me a part I want the whole black sun with the fire round the dark Two minutes of midnight on a Tuesday afternoon That's totality, baby, and the streetlights on at noon [Verse 2: Blues-rock female lead, roaring overdriven guitar riff, raspy blues-rock wail] Then the fire escapes started fillin' up with men From the tire bays and the bakery and the yard on Tenth Miss Ruth the crossin' guard in her orange and her sign Standin' on the laundry roof with her hand over her eyes Mercy, every roof on the block had a body on the edge Every chimney, every gutter, every window, every ledge People I've been passin' for a decade on the street Never said a word to me, now they're standin' at my feet [Hook: Blues-rock female lead, full band, huge blues-rock chorus] Don't hand me a sliver, Lord, don't hand me a part I want the whole black sun with the fire round the dark Two minutes of midnight on a Tuesday afternoon That's totality, baby, and the streetlights on at noon [Bridge: Blues-rock female lead, drums pounding harder every bar, diamond flare at the end as the sun breaks back] And the whole sky dropped like a curtain on the town Every streetlight blinked awake and nobody made a sound Honey, all I saw was a ring of white fire Hangin' over the welders and the tire shop wire Then a single bead of light broke out along the ring Like a diamond on a hand, and I heard the whole street sing [Final Hook: Blues-rock female lead, full band, huge blues-rock chorus] Don't hand me a sliver, Lord, don't hand me a part I want the whole black sun with the fire round the dark Two minutes of midnight on a Tuesday afternoon That's totality, baby, and the streetlights on at noon [End]
