The landlady's husband came up to town today

Since he left them both ten years ago to serve the ministry

The dark down road of his approach in constant rain was drenched

The tenant's boy said, "How d'ya do?" Then swore in French Did you teach this little child these curses on my soul

You should both be shut down in the coal-hole

That's the way to treat a child who cries out in the night

And a woman who teaches wrong from right Oh, he's a battered old bird

And he's living up there, oh

He's a battered old bird

And he's living up there, oh There's a place where time stands still

If you keep taking these little pink pills, oh Hush your mouth, you hypocrite

His humor cut her deep

The tight lipped leer of judgment

That had seen her love desert her just like sleep Filthy words on children's lips

Are better, my dear spouse

Then if I were to speak my mind

About this house Oh, he's a battered old bird

And he's living up there, oh

He's a battered old bird

And he's living up there, oh There's a place where time stands still

You keep taking these little pink pills, oh But on the first floor there are two old maids

Each one wishing that the other was afraid

And next door to them is a man so mild

'Til he chopped off the head of a visitor's child He danced upon the bonfire

Swallowed sleeping pills like dreams

With a bottle of sweet sherry

That everything redeems Oh, he's a battered old bird

And he's living up there, oh

He's a battered old bird

And he's living up there, oh There's a place where time stands still

If you keep taking these little pink pills, oh And on the second floor is the Macintosh Man

He's in his overcoats more than out of them

And the typewriter's rattling all through the night

He's burgundy for breakfast tight He says, "One day I'll throw away

All of my cares

And it is always Christmas in a cupboard

At the top of the stairs" Oh, he's a battered old bird

And he's living up there, oh

He's a battered old bird

And he's living up there, oh There's a place where time stands still

If you keep taking these little pink pills, oh Here's a boy if ever there was

Who's going to do big things

Guess that's what they all say

And that's how the trouble begins I've seen them rise and fall

Been through their big deals and smalls

He'd better have a dream that goes

Beyond four walls You think he should be sent outside

Playing with the traffic

When pieces of him are already

Scattered in the attic

When pieces of him are already

Scattered in the attic Oh, he's a battered old bird

And he's living up there, oh

He's a battered old bird

And he's living up there, oh And there's a place where time stands still

You keep taking these little pink pills, oh, oh, oh