Annotated lyrics for The Hold Steady song 'T-Shirt Tux' - There's that girl from your work and she's here with some guy. / He's got a t-shirt tux and a piano key tie. / The rest of us were rolling our eyes. / At the handshake he did with the doorman. / But thats how he gets the stuff that makes him feel so important. / And we all need something to get through the night. / Cause the kitchen gets hot and the fingers get fried. / Pontius Pilate played to the crowd. / And they all thought they knew what they wanted. / And everyone's sorry when they see that it's dawn. / I assumed that's the reason we do this? / And me and the guy with the piano key tie. / Are probably gonna play right through this. / Tiny little triumphs. Massive bloody failures. / I've heard that there are sailors who dread coming ashore. / I guess it's true. It's true I guess. / But tonight I fear my sensors aren't receiving at their best. / Everyone's acting like they hate that they're here. / Baring their teeth and sharpening spears. / The stuff that they put in the punchbowl tonight / Makes it too hard to pay much attention / But your war of attrition turned out to be a major attraction. / A boy and a girl were draining their beers. / He said Stalin was a weatherman to start his career. / Johnny Cash was in the service / When the news came through the wire. / And Its weird how you feel when bad people die. / She said yeah I guess, whatever. / All your fun little facts are never gonna keep us together. / We'll all be doomed. Once we leave this room. / We spinning through the turnstiles and we're sleeping in our shoes. / We're sad and stoned when were all hooked up at home / But when we leave the house we're homesick / Got the disconnection blues. / There were multiple dispensers. / and some friends we couldn't use. / There's a candle on the table. / There's a photo on the fridge. / There's a bunch of things we said / We're gonna do then never did. / Sometimes it's all slippery sidewalks and / Trying to find a place to park. / Turning on a burner that never catches spark. / They say everything's perception. / But that's not really right. / Let's all try to tell a little truth tonight. / Let's all try to tell a little truth tonight.