Ol' Pompeii

He's a hollow shell of a man with disinfected hands washing dishes in the depths of Ol' Pompeii
Down the street & around back, you'll catch sight of him through a crack in the alley that was seemingly hacked just yesterday
Nobody asks him what he thinks if he picks his head up from the sink, Gina, the winsome waitress won't deign to look his way
Replicating bliss, to nostalgia for what we missed, just behold this miracle that descended to your plate,

Never mind what it is you want, all is chaos on the Front, your whole existence just the start of the charade
Remember to take that into account as you're descending from the mount, check in hand to check what you got paid
The mass confusion is alarming, the carnage is disarming, just so you'll catch the flak for the Gods' mistakes,
The fact that anything gets served is a covenant to be observed, a kindly dispensation for the slaves

Hey!

The fish were frozen in their pens for the wages of their sins & half eaten so they head back out to sea
The ordnance all washed clean, the leaden scratches of defeat, scars along the land of woken dead,
fawning after stars, bewildered by the day, we go traipsing through the traffic on the Appian Way
Lungs burning in the smog just so all these idiots can keep their jobs, it's probably nicer down there in the putrid sewer drains

Werner Von Braun in his Mercedes benz, Sparticus is back and he's looking pretty fuckin pissed
Il Duce & Ezra Pound are going through the lost & found, they've got a purple dress & a couple of those Burger King crowns….
I'm sure everyone'd be proud with the way things turned out, the devout shall never openly venture to venture doubt,
They've come back to make amends, even the Good Shepard is wanting in, but all that's gonna happen is getting crucified again


They wanted Rome but hey it's Ol' Pompeii
Vesuvio's ashen and gray
Vegas in the rain
where nothing goes to waste

When the world was young
O in our native tongue
We sang a very old song
But we got the words very wrong

You've gotta work your way up from a washer to a cook, to a busser to a waiter to a host
You could be sommelier, we could have one one day, we need someone to rebottle the wine that's leftover anyway
But you could never work enough to compete against those puffs, & by the way No. 3 wants their order to go,
It's just a service we provide, now get your ass back on the line, you've got a chance to prove that you can hold your own

You know I'll tell you what, the food in Rome really kinda sucks, it's more the girls and all the wine and sultry air,
I go there every year but I'd rather sit around here drinking beer, but I trust you'll hold down the fort while I'm away,
You better button up your shirt and stand straight and clean that stain, these nice old people don't want you looking like a crazed knave
Hey what can I say, I've seen a thing or two in my day, fuck it this is ain't Rome, it's Ol' Pompeii!

Hey!

It ain't Rome, it's Ol' Pompeii
It's just a way to keep the hounds at bay
we're all headed into the fray
There's no reason to feel dismayed

Rome wasn't built in a day
But it burned overnight
Or so the oracles on the corner say
Tell me who mans the curtain
Down in Ol' Pompeii?


Now Gina glides by with a twinkle in her eye, the clouds are parting in the suffocating night,
She says "This is just temporary, i'm gonna be an actor named Gary by silver or crook or letters or lights…," or whatever,
The thread on which these things hinge was fatally impinged, & our hero's flesh was melting on the flame,
When in Rome, wasn't built, hacked to death, burned to the hilt, they got your money you got your fantasy,
& the morning comes exhorting, but you've blown your wages while out cavorting
Trying to wind up exactly anywhere but where you are
Let me give you some advice, a hobo's got nine lives, but they might not last much longer than a day
Everybody who was anybody sat right there where you're standing writing a song or a ballet or a novel or a play
Course that was before we franchised, & everything got sanitized, oh well whatever, it'll never be like it was back in the day
Now the kids sit around gaming and gaining pounds, and all the artists are bureaucratic knaves


Hey!