Serpentine

Maybe it's just age or a thousand other fears

That took me back tonight to my early carnival years

I can see the period moving like the source of the old Golf Stream

Oh, what a lovely dream

Adolescent lust was begging for a start

As I sidestepped those brothers with their sacred hearts

Yep, those two weeks a year, it was all about sin

Follies chasing death, you can count me in

There's flannel man with a golden ring

And a cruel, north man, smells like kerosene

Here comes the flow of a con of a queen

I wanna wrap her in serpentine

Hands up high, eyes open wide

Throw me something, mister, that's why you ride

Cracker jacks with tares inside

Kneel beyond our wildest dreams

Foots and masks that are too '

Some things really are the way they seem

Beads and confetti were littering the air

When the queen looked at me with her Ava Gardner stare

Though tomorrow would bring ashes and penance by the tongue

Mardi Gras is where I learned to have fun

There's flannel man with a golden ring

And a cruel, north man, smells like kerosene

I'm still in love with the con of a queen

I wanna wrap her in serpentine

Still wanna wrap her in serpentine

It was the devil!