Maddox Table Lyrics - 10,000 Maniacs

The legs of Maddox kitchen tables 

My whole life twisted on a lathe 

In a foreman's torrent 

My first English was 

"Faster boy if you want your pay" 

Barking commands 

Loud and simple 

We could all obey 

Then I was forever pulling silvers 

Rubbed the sawdust always 

Deeper in my eye 

Varnish vapor that could linger 

On my skin 

It held tight 

The whine of spinning blades 

Still echoes to bother my sleep at night 

See that ox 

Stamped dead center 

On the letter head of the company mail 

Four decades a spitting image 

Of the animal I portrayed 

At Maddox Table a yoke was carved 

For my neck 

Sun through the window oil spattered 

And in mason jars 

Tricked plenty seeds thrive 

The standing joke 

Around the shop was 

With my green thumb 

Anything'd grow 

My part was to laugh 

Show and ornery jig had 

Cut it at the knuckle bone 

See that ox 

Trade mark burned 

Into every stick of furniture 

From horn to tail 

Four decades a spitting image 

Of the animal I portrayed 

At Maddox Table a yoke was carved 

For my neck 

Was tailor made 

O my Dolly was a weak 

Not a burdened girl 

Treat her to a piece of vaudville 

A Wintergarden moving picture show 

Bemus Point on July Sundays 

By trolley we'd go 

To your benefit we's strike or bargain 

With the waving fist a union man 

Not just for 

Smokes spirits candy and cologne 

But for 

Automobile keys 

Cash in the bank 

And the deed 

On a place called home