She called herself Amanda and spoke English quite well
She was born in Scandinavia but you really couldn’t tell
She read Shakespeare and Keats and had a thing for snakes
She said they’re easy to handle in times when everything breaks

She said, I’m half Swedish, half Norwegian and all crazy
But one thing I ain’t sir is shiftless and lazy
But employers want papers or you’ll end up below minimum wage
Sixty hours a week and a face that looks twice your age

And you can employ me and reap profits out of me
I’ll always work hard and be the best that I can be
Throw me a knuckleball I’ll knock it straight out of the park
Give me a candle and I’ll light it with my own spark

Money ain’t no issue but I wanna use my brain
Now I’m weary with labor and faint with pain
If I had a great big fortune I’d just give it all away
I’d rather live beneath a bridge than take part in that game

I believe you’ve got to compromise with morals to do well
Rich men walk like camels through needles on their ways to Hell
So I’m another jarred pendulum swinging to a boss man’s beat
A mental fugitive trying to get back on her feet

Do you understand the reference? she said and emptied her glass
She took another hit and so I made my pass
She crossed her legs and laughed and smacked me with a book
That’s all she wrote buddy but you can have a little look

She showed me the goods that I would never get
Her drawings, her scars and a whole new alphabet
I got to see her soul and a wee bit more
And I went home slightly wiser than before

I guess it wouldn’t hurt to get a bit educated
The ones who own knowledge will always feel liberated
And now I feel sure that everything comes with a cost
In the end we all lose but somehow I feel I’ve already lost