Lyrics The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady

Esther

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

Songs all ran together and the kids ran outta liquor

That's when me and Esther started staring at each other

Started staring at each other feeling pretty sweet

Now everything is Esther it's been that way all week

The parties fall to pieces the endings are so heavy

Feels like no one's watching when we're this deep in the valley

When we're this deep in the valley you can see so many stars

When Esther told her story we were sitting in the car

She said her folks were never close

They had me 'cause they had to

No one named me Esther

That came up a little later

It was after some detective

Came around here with some questions

I went out to Colorado

Was mostly in the motels

Started living pretty reckless

Started calling myself Esther

I just felt like someone different

Felt like someone different and I never could forgive

All the movies in our heads about the lives we wanna live

The lives we wanna live are all free of pain and fear

Now Esther's getting cigarettes and me I'm buying beer

Felt like someone different felt like someone else

She almost died in Denver, she did it to herself

She did it herself, there's only her to blame

Of course I call her Esther I don't know her other name

She's never going home her folks were never close

We mostly watch the TV crack the windows when we smoke

Her aura is amazing her room is kind of bleak

I met Esther at a party got together for a week