Invitation to the Blues

Well, she's up against the register

With an apron and a spatula

Yesterday's deliveries

And the tickets for the bachelors

She's a moving violation

From her conk down to her shoes

But it's just an invitation to the blues

And you feel just like Cagney

She looks like Rita Hayworth

At the counter of the Schwab's Drugstore

You wonder if she might be single

She's a loner? Likes to mingle?

Got to be patient, try and pick up a clue

She said, "How you gonna like 'em?

Over-medium or scrambled?"

You say, "Anyway's the only way

Be careful not to gamble

On a guy with a suitcase

And a ticket gettin' out of here

In a tired bus station

In an old pair of shoes

'Cause it ain't nothin' but an invitation to the blues"

But you can't take your eyes off her

Get another cup of java

It's just the way she pours it for you

Jokin' with the customers

Mercy mercy, Mister Percy

There ain't nothin' back in Jersey

But a broken down jalopy of a man I left behind

And a dream that I was chasin'

And a battle with the booze

And an open invitation to the blues

But she used to have a sugar daddy

And a candy-apple Caddy

And a bank account and everything

Accustomed to the finer things

He probably left her for a socialite

And he didn't love her, 'cept at night

And then he's drunk and never even told her that he cared

So they took the registration

And the car keys and her shoes

And left her with an invitation to the blues

But there's a Continental Trailways leavin'

Local bus tonight, good evenin'

You can have my seat, I'm stickin' 'round here for a while

Get me a room at the Squire

The fillin' station's hirin'

And I can eat here every night

What the hell have I got to lose?

Got a crazy sensation

Go or stay, and I gotta choose

And I'll accept your invitation to the blues