There's a switchman up around the bend,
He gets you in the end every time.
He rolls his snake's eyes and listens for your train.
With broken fingers,
He lurks and lingers
And crosses off your name.
With eyes like magic eight balls,
Floating dice of fate,
You could try again but that's a train that's never late.
Any day now,
Your luck can change.
There's no way out, there is no bargaining or trade.
You're in the hands of the switchman tonight,
And he can make you go wrong,
And he can make you go right.
A man builds a wall, and another knocks it down.
We just go round and round,
It's all the same.
We're pinatas spinning in the wind.
Blindfold children,
Singing and spinning,
They always get you in the end.
And your candy shower burst,
And sprinkles out your fate,
And the switchman stirs awake.
Any day now,
Your track can change.
There's no way out, there is no bargaining your fate.
You're in the chorus of the switchman's little song,
And he can make you go right,
And he can make you go wrong.
And all in all we all just fall like bowling pins,
Like broken violins in the end.
We can hold on like that old Parthenon,
3 000 years strong, we just keep hanging on and on,
And on and on,
And on and on,
And on and on,
And on and on,
And on and on,
And on and on.
Any day now,
Your luck can change.
There's no way out, there is no bargaining or trade.
You're in the hands of the switchman tonight,
And he can make you go wrong,
And he can make you go right.