Somewhere downtown a pretty girl kneels
Offers her soft of lips and a handful of pills
Then she peels off her dress and then the rest of her skills
It buys what she wants and the rest she just steals
He speaks between deep swallows of rum
'Til her head is beating like a drum
And she wishes he were mute and not just dumb
When the trick asked her quick, "Did you come?"
It's a drag
Saluting that starry rag
I'd rather go blind
For speaking my mind
Than use it just like a gag
So wave it in anger
Just let it hang
American Gangster Time
He sits back and he starts invent
All about some Saigon correspondent
"Until the carbine fell silent and spent
I never knew it could be so eloquent"
Next week there'll be some fashionable new sin
For every harlot and each Puritan
Pull their wings off and stick them on pin
And just watch the money roll in
It's a drag
Saluting that starry rag
I'd rather go blind
For speaking my mind
Than use it just like a gag
So wave it in anger
Just let it hang
American Gangster Time
What have you got hidden up your sleeve?
The tracks of the train that is bidding you to leave
When they say you should flatter to deceive
Just don't count on any reprieve
The hands of the helpless are raised
And your dead little secrets are praised
And the people stand dumbstruck and dazed
By the inches that you have erased
It's a drag
Saluting that starry rag
I'd rather go blind
For speaking my mind
Than use it just like a gag
So wave it in anger
Just let it hang
American Gangster Time
Committing the perfect crime
In American Gangster Time
Offers her soft of lips and a handful of pills
Then she peels off her dress and then the rest of her skills
It buys what she wants and the rest she just steals
He speaks between deep swallows of rum
'Til her head is beating like a drum
And she wishes he were mute and not just dumb
When the trick asked her quick, "Did you come?"
It's a drag
Saluting that starry rag
I'd rather go blind
For speaking my mind
Than use it just like a gag
So wave it in anger
Just let it hang
American Gangster Time
He sits back and he starts invent
All about some Saigon correspondent
"Until the carbine fell silent and spent
I never knew it could be so eloquent"
Next week there'll be some fashionable new sin
For every harlot and each Puritan
Pull their wings off and stick them on pin
And just watch the money roll in
It's a drag
Saluting that starry rag
I'd rather go blind
For speaking my mind
Than use it just like a gag
So wave it in anger
Just let it hang
American Gangster Time
What have you got hidden up your sleeve?
The tracks of the train that is bidding you to leave
When they say you should flatter to deceive
Just don't count on any reprieve
The hands of the helpless are raised
And your dead little secrets are praised
And the people stand dumbstruck and dazed
By the inches that you have erased
It's a drag
Saluting that starry rag
I'd rather go blind
For speaking my mind
Than use it just like a gag
So wave it in anger
Just let it hang
American Gangster Time
Committing the perfect crime
In American Gangster Time