"Chinatown Calculation" lyrics - DOUG AND THE SLUGS

It ain't easy watchin' 6 years
Slipping through my picket gate.
Like some wounded dog escapin'
Through that hole in the kennel fence
The water's boiling, poached eggs waiting
The toast I notice - still on the plate
The queen of diamonds lying face down
Your hidden message makes no sense

Whoever the new mystery man is
I've got to admit - he knows his business
You're reading me now From the right to the left
And it's coming out just the way you might expect
Chinatown Calculation.
That's cool with no regrets.

The city seems so cold t'night
And I'm a fightin' the feeling that something's lost
Clinical friends got their cynical bends
Their dialogue's on a single track
They say I'm sad 'cause the rube went walkin'
Well That's the price.. don't they know love costs?
Sometimes money but mostly the moments
That seem so much a part of the pact

[Chorus]

It ain't easy
Watchin' 6 years
Slipping through my picket gate
Like some wounded dog escapin'
Through that hole in the kennel fence
I never saw that cold equation algebra behind your face
That wrote me off as a bad transaction
Your abacus spoke deadly sense

Whoever the new mystery man is
I've got to admit - he knows his business
You're reading me now From the right to the left
And it's coming out just the way you might expect
Chinatown Calculation.
That's cool with no regrets.