all my city is dressed in skin
her lips are dark
her ankles thin
oh my dizzy ballerina, won't you give us a spin?
my country's cold in autumn's chains
every time I think of her it rains
when she breathes upon the morning
she shakes all the weather vanes
now I try to keep a steady hand
because I'm living in a shaky land
lord I try to be an honest man
but it's tougher than I ever planned
in the westbound air tonight are those centuries
my tongue-tied beheaded bride
the Alberta breeze
oh David drive like you've never done
oh Sarah sing like you've never sung
oh my dizzy ballerina spin like you've never spun
now I'm sending you a telegram
about my days in the caravan
with the steers and the bleating lambs
took the money and away I ran
I recall how the dress you wore rose above your knees
as the thrush flew from the mouth of the Alberta breeze
the summer's turned it's back on me with a sorrow-laden symmetry
with a highway kind of robbery
like my life was an apology
now I don't think about you all the time
only when the trees sway somehow slaughtered by the Alberta breeze