Candy Jail - Silver Jews

Pain works on a sliding scale

So does pleasure in a candy jail

True love doesn’t come around anymore than fate allows

On a Monday in Fort Lauderdale

I came all this way to see your grave

To see your life as writ in paraphrase

«I have tried thee,» it is written, «in the furnace of affliction»

This is what you couldn’t face

Life in a candy jail

With peppermint bars

Peanut-brittle bunk beds

And marshmallow walls

Where the guards are gracious

And the grounds are grand

And the warden keeps the data on your favorite brands

Jelly beans and cookie dough

Country restroom on the radio

I got a number on my name

It’s hard to rise above the shame

I’m a branded man made in the mold

These terms engulf the waking mind

Like cherry, grape and lemon-lime

Like candy corn and licorice

Like bubble-gum and Swedish fish

It happens to me all the time

Living in a candy jail

With peppermint bars

Peanut-brittle bunk beds

And marshmallow walls

Where the guards are gracious

And the grounds are grand

And the warden really listens

And he understands