Stan Ridgway - Pick It Up lyrics

A signal swings and the lights turn off And a missing man begins to cough And no one knows the lost ones from the found And lady luck, well, she can't explain To a hardened coin or a bill, the game It seems everything changes hands when it hits the ground They said it's dog eat dog, cat eat mouse And mouse eat cheese and the cheese just smells The warning systems ring but help won't come. And all the calling cards and the walking sticks And the hidden punches and the coward's kicks Say we got a big mouthful now Chorus: Pick it up and put it in your pocket Or somebody else will Pick it up and put it in your pocket Or somebody else just will Repeat as necessary Now the world's a road and for miles around On every inch of unclaimed ground, hide rewards for some but all the rest Spin a creepy wheel or they trip the stair While the new school boys just can't play fair In a place that leaves it's money in it's mess Chorus repeat Now an old man with a paper bag And a list so long on a dirty rag Checks each item that he will throw or keep But he'll never thank the coin that's bent Or a greenback bill that a stranger sent But he'll pick 'em just the same And then he'll thank the street He turns and says it's dog eat dog And cat eat mouse And mouse eat cheese And the cheese just smells Now I don't wanna seem to say That the time ahead won't be okay But the scale is loaded down With the weight of sixteen tons And the ones that have Tell the ones that don't To tell the ones that can't About the ones who won't And there's no place left here 'round to run Chorus repeat endlessly