www.mydfz.com > Music of Tom Paxton > (unspecified album) > Lyrics to The Hooker
(Thanks to Stuart Reeves for assistance in transcribing / typing the lyrics.)

The Hooker Where do you go at night? Where do you go at night? Wrapped in your cheap cologne, Where do you go at night? Down to the pit with the stinking air, And the smell of the sweat and the death is there. I dance for a dollar and I dance for a dime, Till their eyes are begging and their pockets are mine. I pick a body and I name my fee, I take their money and they take me. That's where I go at night. That's where I go at night. Don't point your finger, Say your prayers at me! The truth is hard but I'm gonna tell it! Ah, there's a whole lot of ways to sell it! How do you spend your days? How do you spend your days? When you can sleep no more, How do you spend your days? I rise at four in the afternoon. I take a match and the kitchen spoon. I wrap my arm in an old necktie, And I find religion on the very first try. I wash my face and I comb my hair. My looks are going but I just don't care, And that's how I spend my days. That's how I spend my days. Don't point your finger, Say your prayers at me! The truth is hard but I'm gonna tell it! Ah, there's a whole lot of ways to sell it! Where do you find your love? Where do you find your love? Where do you run to him, Where do you find your love? I find my love in an old hotel. He's mean and wicked and he knows me well. He takes my body, he takes my mind, Takes my money and he beats me blind. Says he'll help me but he won't say when, Sends me walking on the streets again. And that's where I find my love. That's where I find my love. Don't point your finger, Say your prayers at me! The truth is hard but I'm gonna tell it! Ah, there's a whole lot of ways to sell it! How will you spend your life? How will you spend your life? While ladies play at cards, How will you spend your life? Lying in a circle of velvet rooms. Dying in six inch carpet tombs. Hiding in the gutter with the aching pains. Trading the years for the aching veins. Dying at last when the tricks are few, And I can't get action from a john like you. Ah, that's how I spend my life. That's how I spend my life! Don't point your finger, Say your prayers at me! The truth is hard but I'm gonna tell it! Ah, there's a whole lot of ways to sell it!

Note: There are a couple of places in the lyrics with which I am uncomfortable. I'm not sure we have them transcribed exactly right. The first place is in the first verse where it asks, "Where do you go at night?" and responds "Down to the pit with the stinking air". The record sounds more like "Down to the paper..." but that doesn't seem to make sense. It could be something like "Down to the pit, aw with the stinking air" I suppose. Anyway, there is a rough spot there for sure. The seond spot is in the same verse where it says, "I pick a body and a name of fear" which doesn't seem to be quite right either. I think it may be "I pick a body in the name of fear" but I'm not sure that's quite right either. More of life's little mysteries! Feb. 18, 2005: Rini Schilders wrote an email and I think he's got the answers! He agrees with "Down to the pit with the stinking air" but the exciting part of the letter is his suggestion of "I pick a body and I name my fee" which makes much more sense than my previous ideas. I've updated the lyrics to include his wording. Thanks Rini! Feb. 24, 2005: Barry Henderson emailed and pointed out that where I had, "I take them on and they take me.", the original "Compleat Tom Paxton" album has "I take their money and they take me." I'm not sure which version I had taken the lyrics from but I like Barry's version better.