And so we wend our way to Big Smoke Cat on a hot, tin Tennessee In my town shoes and your golden slippers And Hart Crane's guarantee All these shuttered, little coastal towns Full of stutterers and lispers And dark sunglasses, wide-brimmed hats And whispers, whispers And I looked to the sky And it looked like rain These Towers of Babel / Babble Are gonna come down again On this American talk show With these American talk show hosts ( x2 ) For want of a nail the shoe was gone For want of a shoe the horse can't run For want of a horse the rider's no more For want of a rider we lost the saddle, We lost the battle and then we lost the war And I was never the man That I used to be Just the boy most likely You ever did see On this American talk show With these American talk show hosts ( x2 )