Annotated lyrics for The Hold Steady song 'Sweet Payne' - Payne avenue lives up to its name some nights it's painful and strange. / The whole city seemed sane in the day. but some nights it seems distressed and deranged. / The east side is where we met with those guys that said they'd get us high but that changed. / Now they're down in the basement. They're bashing out his brains. / Kids are getting cut up with the motorcycle chains. / St. Paul had it all when we called. They were maxing out on medicine. / A shaved head. The blood on the bed. / Those guys you'd recognize. They had the same tattoos as Gideon. / Strong stuff and she had more than enough. / She was slumping over smiling and sailing off with cherubim. / The cityscape skins are kinda kicking it again. / They're gonna show these kids some discipline. / Gideon's been living up in Bay City, Michigan. / He's been working at the Michelin. / He got messed up with some messed up magicians. / We got so high some nights Michigan looked just like a mitten some nights we got fried. / Strung out on residuals and visuals and laser shows. / Reach into the speaker and try to hold on to the quarter notes. / I always dream about a unified scene. / There's James King and King James and James Dean. / At a table in the corner of my unified scene. / They want a double order of love and respect. / They said they just got back from up in Hostile, Massachusetts. / Girl I've seen your friend. she looks nothing like Jada Pinkett. / I think you got something in those cigarettes. / Gideon was living up in south Minneapolis. / He was the cowboy on the crosstown bus. / All the little fillies at the Yukon Club are gunning for the gold rush. / We got tangled in electrical fences. we got wrapped up in the Indian fringes. / All the little Phillies at the Yukon Club are gunning for the gold rush. / They just can't get enough.