Esther The Hold Steady

In the middle of a mission I met Esther in the kitchen
Drinking something blue it looked like Windex
She could shake but couldn't really sing
Sharpened like a feral thing
Helped me with my part when I lost interest

She said her name was Esther I said baby that sounds biblical
Ain't she the one that came up after Vashti?
Yeah and then some other stuff
At some point there I fell in love
Then she heard a song she liked and lost me

The party ended suddenly, suddenly it's over
That left me an Esther all alone and getting older
All alone and getting older smoking in the street
Now everything is Esther and it's been that way all week

The times that we were powerless were times that I remember best
When it first came on it felt just like a blanket
Once we had a little bit we pretty much just wasted it
Traded in our tickets for drinks and little trinkets

The scene back in the city was the opposite of freedom
We were always so damn broke it was this whole dependent fallacy
They started shooting so the songs of the future
Esther always wants it how it used to be