High on a cliff in Mexico
Staring down at the rocks and the sea below
I can hear the church bells ring
I can hear the choir
I remember the night she left
I drove to the station in the pouring rain
Sat all night behind my big iron desk
The oil on the water made a rainbow
At the end of this bone white gravel road
They both lie sleeping on a feather bed
And her hair is black as the sky at night
But her eyes are gray like the moon
You can run but you can't hide
You can run but you can't hide
You said you love me but I know you lied
You said you love me but I know you lied
Staring down at the rocks and the sea below
I can hear the church bells ring
I can hear the choir
I remember the night she left
I drove to the station in the pouring rain
Sat all night behind my big iron desk
The oil on the water made a rainbow
At the end of this bone white gravel road
They both lie sleeping on a feather bed
And her hair is black as the sky at night
But her eyes are gray like the moon
You can run but you can't hide
You can run but you can't hide
You said you love me but I know you lied
You said you love me but I know you lied
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
"Bad News from Home" as written by Randy Newman
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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If he's already killed her (or them) then the question is why isn't he locked up somewhere? He "drove to the station"... He's a cop. Perhaps the sheriff because he has a "big iron desk." And that's how he got away with murder, but now he's being haunted.
Haunted by her ghost! The last four lines are spoken by her. He can't hide from from her. He never loved her and that's why she cheated on him.
Anyway I think it's almost certainly about a man whose wife or lover leaves him for another, and the kills them both. All I could find from the Great Randy Newman himself was "It sounds life the guy's gonna do something bad," and describing it as a "Little drama."
He's bad news because his home is in the U.S., but now he finds himself on a Mexican seaside cliff just down the road from where the cheating lovers lie. He is pausing for a few seconds, to immortalize his story for Randy Newman, before carrying out his homicidal intentions.
The bells and choir might be tolling and wafting from a church in a nearby little Mexican town. Or perhaps,these sounds are revisiting him from his wedding day in that blissful time when his wife lied to him that she loved him.
The night she disappeared, he was worried sick for her. He was awake all night. This thought didn't pass through his mind that night-- but now he knows . . she lied.
Now that he is with her once again, he knows that she can run but she cannot hide.
The illicit pair, as insinuated before, are down the road from this cliff overhanging the sea, and they are asleep on a feather-bed in a rented room of their fugitive-lovers' hacienda.
Because the moon is not gray except when a cloud comes over it, his wife's eyes are gray like the moon because they are closed.
Also, she has lyin' eyes she can't hide.
Her hair is black as the sky at night because there's no light in the room.
The oil on the water, and iron desk, I don't know. Maybe he pushed their car over the cliff and the rainbow signifies there's no hope for any of the three. He is about to walk back.