This song is about a bum's life. The lyrics are self explanatory. It starts out telling you it's about a bum, or at least a "poor man". In the second verse, the line "When the dawn patrol got to tell you twice
They're gonna do it with a shotgun", means that this poor bum probably has been caught sleeping somewhere he shouldn't have one too many times by the police, and he's just recalling that they wake you up with a shotgun, if necessary, to get you to leave. When he says "But until my ship comes in
I'll live night by night", he literally means that he has to live each night like it's his last until something better turns his life around.
The lines "When the joker tried to tell me
I could cut it in this rube town
When he tried to hang that sign on me
I said Take it down", is Becker and Fagan's cynicism and facetiousness.It's their way of saying " I mean to be a bum", even though we all know that's not true. It's a great song. Well, that's my two cents anyway.
This song is about a bum's life. The lyrics are self explanatory. It starts out telling you it's about a bum, or at least a "poor man". In the second verse, the line "When the dawn patrol got to tell you twice They're gonna do it with a shotgun", means that this poor bum probably has been caught sleeping somewhere he shouldn't have one too many times by the police, and he's just recalling that they wake you up with a shotgun, if necessary, to get you to leave. When he says "But until my ship comes in I'll live night by night", he literally means that he has to live each night like it's his last until something better turns his life around. The lines "When the joker tried to tell me I could cut it in this rube town When he tried to hang that sign on me I said Take it down", is Becker and Fagan's cynicism and facetiousness.It's their way of saying " I mean to be a bum", even though we all know that's not true. It's a great song. Well, that's my two cents anyway.