Cover art for Barfruit Blues by The Hold Steady
Mar. 16, 20041 viewer

Barfruit Blues Lyrics

Kids with broken hearts, kids with broken bones
Kids with kidney stones giving birth to bloody stereos
Systems are all dripping wet
With the gristle piss and the swizzlesticks
Mary got a bloody nose from sniffing margarita mix

She licked her lower lip and then she kissed that Hallelujah chick
She came off kind of spicy but she tasted like those pickle chips
Thought she was a dancer but her steps they made the records skip
She came off kind of crunchy but she went down like a chicken strip

Dripping wet with the special sauce
She had a confident smile and a nervous cough
And we got off

She said, "It's good to see you back in a bar band, baby."
I said, "It's great to see you're still in the bars."
She said, "It's good to see you back in a bar band, baby."
I said, "It's great to see you're still in the bars."

Went down with a tallboy can and he woke up in a cargo van
Went down with the Girls Gone Wild and he woke up with a middle man
Went down with like fourteen bucks and woke up with like sixteen grand
Went down with some crust punk junk and woke up with a straight edge band
That's not how he planned it
Holly can't speak, she don't feel all that sweet
About the places she sometimes has to go to get some sleep
She said "I'm sorry, people think I'm pretty."

These clever kids are killing me
For one they ain't that clever
Number two, it really sucks when you get stuck here with these Trevors
This was supposed to be a party
Half the crowd is calling out for "Born To Run"
The other half is calling out for "Born To Lose"
Baby, we were born to choose
We got the last call bar band really, really, really big decision blues

We were born to bruise
We were born to bruise
We were born to bruise

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About

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Genius Annotation

A giant party of a song, describing a depraved night out, it works as a reintroduction of Craig Finn and Tad Kubler back into the bar band life. It’s also the first introduction of Hallelujah into the Hold Steady mythology.

The title is a reference to the fruit that is used as a garnish in alcoholic drinks at bars.

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Credits
Release Date
March 16, 2004
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