She ordered a couple of Alabama Slammers, and motioned Joey to the bar- the only sure way she had of getting his full attention. They saluted each other, with the customary tip of the head, slammed the short glasses of Amaretto, Southern Comfort, and a squirt of Seven-Up on the bar, and shot the sweet thieves of reality down their throats before they had a chance to effervesce onto the bar.

Her lips wet and sticky, her heart beating so loudly she was sure it could be heard over the painful rifts of AC DC’s “Balls To The Wall”, and her body still unhealed from having been branded yet again with the fiery hot poker of make up sex, the one thing that welded them together- she grabbed his arm, pulled him close, and said, ”Cant we just promise to love each other, forever, no matter what? I mean, no matter who’s right or who’s wrong, no matter who screamed first or who threw the first punch, no matter who came home last night and who didn’t, no matter who goes to work every day, and who does’t? I mean No. Matter. What.?”

“Sure baby.” he said with that drunk crooked little smile of his- and a wink- probably intended for the girl on the opposite side of the bar most likely to buy his next drink. 

Then turned and walked away…

 

Joey is the codependent lamentations of a woman very much in love with a man, who is very much in love with alcohol. It was written and performed by Johnette Napolitano and her band, Concrete Blonde in 1990 and released on their third album, Bloodletting. It was written about Napolitano’s troubled relationship with Marc Moreland of the band Voodoo Dolls. Naplolitano wrote the words in a cab on the way to a photoshoot in Philadelphia, having already laid the musical tracks some weeks earlier in England. Moreland eventually died of liver cancer as a result of his fondness for alcohol in 2002. The two were no longer together.

 

Joey
By Concrete Blonde

Joey, baby – don’t get crazy
Detours, fences, I get defensive

I know you’ve heard it all before
So I don’t say it anymore
I just stand by and let you
Fight your secret war
And though I used to wonder why
I used to cry till I was dry
Still sometimes I get a strange pain inside
Oh, Joey, if you’re hurting so am I

Joey, honey, I got some money
All is forgiven. Listen, listen

But if I seem to be confused
I didn’t mean to be with you
And when you said I scared you
Well I guess you scared me too
But we got lucky once before
And I don’t want to close the door
And if you’re somewhere out there
Passed out on the floor
Oh Joey, I’m not angry anymore

And if I seem to be confused
I didn’t mean to be with you
And when you said I scared you
Well I guess you scared me too
But if it’s love you’re looking for
Then I can give a little more
And if you’re somewhere drunk and
Passed out on the floor
Oh Joey, I’m not angry anymore
Angry anymore, angry anymore

 

This is my response to Jim’s Song Lyric Sunday call for songs containing the any of the following words: Babe/Cutie/Doll/Honey/Sweetie. Baby counts. Doesn’t it?