Joseph looked out of the window, watching people passing by
while the ice-cream man watched Joseph out the corner of his eye
Joe said “sally would you come with me if I had to leave this place
‘cause those Latin boys don’t know my name but they sure as hell know my face”

she said “I’ll never ask you what you did and I never saw no proof”
he said “well even if you asked me that I could never tell the truth
and Carlo’s not the kind of man who likes to compromise
and I can’t go to the cops ‘cause I just can’t go back inside”
and she says

“everything will be alright and everything will work out fine
we could run away anywhere that you want to and
everything will be alright and everything will work out fine
but you know that all of this will still come back to haunt you”


Carlo’s boys are watching out for Joseph day and night
armed to the teeth and always pissed and spoiling for a fight
and for some of them the consequences are fresh in their minds
while the rest of them don’t think and don’t know where to draw the line

and in a seedy bar the ice-cream man is ordering a gin
while the prostitutes and deviants and sailors shuffle in
and a woman talks to Carlo, her face covered in a shroud
she says “it’s safe to talk here but just don’t say my name out loud”

and, up on the rooftops, all the undercover cops
Joseph wakes up in the night and senses movement
“I think they’re gonna hear me now and, jump down the chimney now”
he’s looking still and as a mannequin and twice as useless

Sally she comes home and find Joe sitting on the floor
the place has been turned over, every cupboard every draw
Joe says “they didn’t find a thing, I swear it on my life
they found my sheath and holster but even I can’t find my knife


“so that’s the final warning now the writing’s on the wall
but it’s written in Portuguese so I don’t understand it all
but it’s time to face the music, I know he’d love to hear me plead
but I would rather fall down backwards than forward onto my knees
but
“everything will be alright and everything will work out fine
it’s just the way it went, you know it’s not the way I planned it
everything will be alright and everything will work out fine
I didn’t mean to kill her I just did it out of habit”

so in the street at dawn, Joseph steps out brave and bold
while the ice cream man clandestinely watched everything unfold
and Carlo cocks his pistol, just about to take Joe’s life
when Sally steps out and guts him with Joseph’s missing knife

and as the cops swung round the corner she thrust the knife into Joe’s hand
and while he just stood there stunned she jumped into the ice cream van
now Joseph’s serving gaol time, this time they made him pay
while Sally’s serving ice cream in a city far away

she writes him a letter now, sayin’ “no one else can hurt us now
you know I had to do it even if you don’t know why” and
Joe reads every word out loud and writes down his answer now
even though she never gave him an address to reply
he said

“everything will be alright and everything will work out fine
I’m making up a jigsaw from the pieces of the past
everything will be alright and everything will work out fine
but I miss your elfin smile and your graceless laugh”

everything will be alright and everything will work out fine
no one ever seems to make the most of second chances
everything will be alright and everything will work out fine
and no one ever thought maybe the evidence was planted