“Have you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“About the boys.”
“What about the boys?”
“They’re back!”
“Those wild-eyed boys that had been away?”
“Yeah, them.”
“Back in town. Wow. Did they ask about me?”
“They did.”
“What specifically?”
“Where you was.”
“Valid question.”
“Where you could be found.”
“What did you say?”
“I told them you were living downtown.”
“You didn’t get into the thing with the old men, did you?”
“Um, no.”
“Dude.”
“Forget about that! The boys are back in town!”
“No, no, don’t get me wrong: I’m just as excited as you. But I just have one question.”
“Oh, not again.”
“When the boys leave here–”
“Every fucking year with this.”
“Where do they go to?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they’re students.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Of course it does. They’re here for the summer. Students are off in the summer.”
“It’s not the summer. The nights just started getting warmer. It won’t be long ’til summer comes, but the boys are already present.”
“Is it seasonal work that keeps them away for the whole winter?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe they all have secret families.”
“Maybe.”
“How many boys were there, again?”
“Why must you be like this? The boys! In town!”
“You’re right, you’re right. Just one more question.”
“You’re trying my patience.”
“I know. Just one.”
“Shoot.”
“Where exactly are we?”
“A town.”
“Uh-huh. What kind of town and when? Are we in the Wild West? There’s nothing real on the nose Wild West-ish, but it just kinda feels that way.”
“I don’t think we’re in the Wild West. There’s a bar & grill.”
“I think they had those then.”
“Oh, and you remember that chick at Johnny’s place?”
“The one that slapped him?”
“Yeah.”
“That shit was funny.”
“Oh, yeah. But, you know, a woman striking a man and then not being beaten to death doesn’t sound very Wild West, either.”
“True. And there’s a jukebox at the bar& grill.”
“Okay. So, not Wild West. We’re in the present, or recent past.”
“You’re over-analyzing this. Just enjoy the fact that the boys are back.”
“You’re right, you’re right.”
…
“How long are the boys here for?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
Once, long ago on a planet far, far away my friend and I saw Thin Lizzy. Half way through, he turned to me and said “we are watching a black Irishman dressed in leather singing hard rock songs about the old west.”
So true
If I recall correctly, this was at Winterland opening for Queen. If ever there were a need for a Time Sheath…
If that chick don’t want to know, forget her.
The song only makes sense if you assume The Boys were just released from prison for a collectively-committed felony. Probably a fumbled bank robbery, the kind where they were picked up three blocks away, completely purple from dye packs.