Somebody's Shadow - Rodney Crowell

I’ve seen her in the street light once

All edgy, black and white

A flash of incandescence

Shape shifting in the night

I spied her in a clearing

Out beyond the switching yard

I’ve seen her in a fever dream

And the Empress tarot card

On every crooked sidewalk

I’ve ever stumbled down

Where all roads lead to nowhere

On the other side of town

She’s leaning on a lamp post

Or slumped against the wall

Sneaking down the alley

Behind the billiard hall

There in a cafe window, a figure so forlorn

She’s making me the enemy of every oath I’ve sworn

Has anybody seen her now?

Pray tell me what you hear

'Cause I just can’t get over

How she shed me like a tear

Somebody’s shadow

Is pullin' out the stops

Somebody’s shadow

Probably oughta call the cops

Somebody’s shadow

Is sneakin' up behind

Somebody’s shadow

Made a madhouse of my mind

A perfumed apparition

Out there fading into black

Somebody’s shadow

Like a neon heart attack

She’s lipstick on the Pall Mall butt

In an ashtray by the bed

Wine glass in the bathroom sink

And a porch light flaming red

Her eyes are cornsilk vapors

And her hair’s like oil drum fire

The hoot owls in the belfrey

Back-announce her heart’s desire

Is anybody out there now

And can you hear my voice?

The moondance on the rooftop

Is the phantom lady’s choice

Somebody’s shadow

Is making me a wreck

Somebody’s shadow

Like a noose around my neck

Somebody’s shadow

Is making me a slave

Somebody’s shadow

Is digging me my grave

This paradise called yesterday

Is what I miss the most

'Cause somebody’s shadow

Still haunts me like a ghost