American Slang - Fixed it for You!!!

One of my current favorite bands is The Gaslight Anthem. One of the many tracks that I like is the acoustic version of American Slang.

HOWEVER!!! One of the lines always seems like it should go just a bit different is in the chorus:

And they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive

I got your name tattooed inside of my arm

See, I always feel like it should be something besides ending with "arm". In the song I could almost hear it going "heart" there. Uncontent to let it go, one afternoon at work I handwrote the lyric out with that part left blank, and circulated it among some of my co-workers to garner a consensus.

The picture I took came out a bit blurry, but I think you get the idea. I put for choices what I thought should go there, the actual lyric, or "other - put what you think goes better".

As you can see, my lyric beat out the actual lyric 2:1. The fill ins were pretty good, too. One of the first few I gave it to came up with putting the word "Thigh" in there, and from a rhyming standpoint, I think it works even better!!! Don't know if people were influenced by actually seeing that, or came up with it on their own, but it also came away with around a 2:1 vote tally. Also two for "Mind" one for "Hide" and one undecided. One that I added in was voiced but not written (I suspect because it was at the very end of the day) was the total edit of "I've got a barcode tattooed inside of my arm".

All in all, an enjoyable little diversion for myself and all involved, I like to think. A couple people asked me some days later how it came out.

Look what you started,

I seem to be coming out of my skin

Look what you've forgotten here

The bandages just don't keep me in

And when it was over, I woke up alone

And they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive

I got your name tattooed inside of my arm

I called for my father but my father had died

While you told me fortunes, in American Slang

Look at the damage,

The fortunes came for the richer men.

While we're left with gallows,

Waiting for us liars to come down and hang.

And when it was over, I woke up alone

And they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive

I got your name tattooed inside of my arm

I called for my father but my father had died

While you told me fortunes, in American Slang

And here's where we died that time last year,

And here's where the angels and devils meet.

And you can dance with the queen if you need,

And she will always keep your cards

Close to her heart ooh

So close to her heart before they tear you apart

When they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive

I got your name tattooed inside of my arm

And I called for my father but my father had died

I called for my father but my father had died

While you told me fortunes, in American Slang

You told me fortunes, in American Slang

I read after I'd done the survey that Brian Fallon has a caricature of Joe Strummer of the Clash on the inside of his arm. In that context, the line makes a lot more sense!!!

If I get another tattoo, now I've got a location to get it, and it's not inside of my arm!!!