John Finn's Wife

Well, the night was deep and the night was dark


And I was at the old dance hall on the edge of town, yeah


Some big ceremony was going down


Well dancers writhed and squirmed and then





Came apart and then writhed again


Like squirming flies on a pin


In the heat and in the din, in the heat and in the din


I fell to thinking about brand new wife of mad John Finn





Well, midnight came and clock did strike


And in she came, did John Finn's wife


With legs like scissors and butcher's knives


Tattooed breast and flaming eyes





And a crimson carnation in her teeth


Carving her way through the dance floor


And I'm standing over by the bandstand


Every eye gaping on John Finn's wife


Every eye gaping on John Finn's wife


Oh yeah





Now John Finn's wife was something of a mystery


In a town where to share a sworn secret was a solemn duty


I had brass knuckles and a bolo knife


Over near the bandstand with John Finn's wife





She got perfumed breasts and raven hair


Sprinkled with wedding confettis


And a gang of garroters were all giving me stares


Armed, as they were, with machetes





Well the night through the window was full of lights


Winking and watching at John Finns' wife


Winking and watching at John Finns' wife





Well next came the cops, all out on the town


But it don't look like no trouble there


As they had for the bar in their lumpy suits


And I slip my hand between the things of John Finn's wife





They seemed to yawn awake, her things


It was a warm and very ferocious night


And the moon was full of blood and light


And my eyes grew small and my eyes grew tight


As I plotted in the ear of John Finns' wife





Enter John Finn in his shrunken suit


With his quick black eyes and black cheroot


With his filled down teeth and a hobnail boot


And his fists full of pistols in his pockets


Aiming at me and aiming at his wife





The band fall silent fearing for their lives


And with fear in my guts like tangled twine


'Cause all I got is brass knuckles and a bolo knife


And mad John Finns' wife is all


And the three of us walk out of the hall





Now the night bore down upon us all


You could hear the crickets in the thickets call


Guns did flare and guns did bawl


And I planted my bolo knife in the neck of mad John Finn





I took his wretched life


Now I'm over by the bandstand


Every hand moving on John Finns' wife


Every hand moving on John Finns' wife





And John Finns' wife took all the flowers down


From her hair and threw them on the ground


And the flies did hum and the flies did buzz around


Poor John Finn lying dead upon the ground


Lying dead upon the ground