Tonio K - The Ballad Of The Night The Clocks All Quit (And The Government Failed) lyrics

Gather 'round people gonna tell you a tale 'Bout the time that the clocks all quit and the government failed Back when the agents tracked all the postmen down And they found all they needed to know in the second-cla** mail And then hauled off everyone 'cept for me and a couple of friends They forgot in the Nottingham jail Now that jailor, he saw all the smoke in the air And he wished he was there 'Stead of inside watching our cell So we said "Go do your share, we ain't goin' nowhere" He agreed, grabbed his gun with a smile and then wished us all well 'Fore he got to his car, we had cut through the bars Snuck outside and sat back just to watch 'Til the curtain fell Now the first thing I noticed when we hit the street Was the Seventh Fleet They was cruisin' the center of town No one seemed real clear 'bout who had sent them there But they sure looked grand With the band, the balloons and the clowns (I love a parade) And they played "Anchors away" for the rest of the day 'Cept the times that they'd lower their guns And shoot some renegade down Yes and John the Baptist and Uncle Sam They were carryin' the plans For some new kind of object of faith When all of a sudden this renegade band with their guns in their hands Stopped them both and demanded a look In the top secret case But just in the nick of time Those renegades were stricken blind By a low flying plane with no name and no number to trace But just the same John lost his head And he said he was going to run But someone held him down and Sam tied up his hands He cried out to his boss but he couldn't get across 'Cause the lines were all down And the crowd cheered him on from the stands But he finally did get away You can see him today He sells silver plates and still waits For the boss to call back And Attila the Hun and his Austrian son Left their hideout in Rio to fly out and relive the past Sam he showed 'em around when they got into town But he warned 'em the rules had been changed Since they'd played the game last Ol' Attila just grinned and winked at his friend I forget what went down after that It all happened so fast Yes it was lookin' real bad, any luck that we'd had Had been lost in the park after dark When the army arrived ... big trouble y'know, cause They was sweeping the town chasing renegades down There were no friends to be found There was no place at all left to hide And the Austrian son he was having some fun He'd been put in command of the camps And his prisoners all died ... Meanwhile Way across town In the penthouse suite of the tallest building The boss was asleep When he heard such a clatter He sprang from his bed Just to see what was the matter He looked down on the street And that scene filled his eyes But you know he wasn't even surprised He just got on the phone And he ordered some thunder Some lightning and disk blades (To plow it all under) Someone asked why With a sigh he explained That the fools was up doin' it again Meanwhile back on the street: This clown in a gown and fur hat With tattoos on his shoulders Comes over and whispers "It's gonna be alright" He says he's a personal friend of the boss And then asks if we've got any sheep He can sacrifice later that night We said "No" he said "Oh" And then he wandered off Chanting some strange sounding language And waving his wand at the sky Sam and Attila were gettin' their fill Of the action and danger They'd burned every manger in town And Ol' John's eyes were hazy He must have gone crazy He was runnin' around tryin' to drown Everybody he found Yes and the Austrian son was still having his fun Launching V-2s at anything moving or making a sound Bright and early next morning without any warning The sky opened up And the boss stuck his head through the clouds The Army and Navy they opened up fire But he grabbed him that lightning And layed them all under the ground Sam jumped up to salute The boss said "That's real cute But it's a little bit late 'Cause I've seen what's been going down" Sam said "You've got it all wrong It's them that you want and not me Can't you see that that's Attila and the Austrian kid?" The boss said "Yes that's true But I also want you Do you think that I'm blind? Did you think you could keep yourself hid?" And just then the clown in the gown hit the ground And started kissing his feet But he stepped on his tongue And said "Who is this kid?" And that's the way it was And that's the way it is And that's the way it's probably gonna be And after all this happened you know this Huge flock of birds of prey swept down on the debris And I was listenin' and my friends from the Nottingham jail was listenin' And I swear to ya them birds was goin'... I didn't know what to make of it But I present this story and you can take it for whatever you think it's worth, man Thank you so much...