Tommy Guns and Teddy Bears

(Up-tempo swing intro — walking bass, bright horns, snare with brushes)

Trumpets cry on a midnight street,

Pinstripe shadows and shuffling feet,

Moonlight glints on a Cadillac grille,

River runs quiet but the docks don’t chill.

Crates in the back with a maple burn,

Whiskey prayers at every turn,

Sirens hum like a broken hymn,

Every job might be sink or swim.

Brass kicks high, but my heart hangs low,

Got a picture in my pocket that I can’t let show,

Little shoes by a nursery chair…

Daddy’s running guns, can’t bring teddy bears.

It’s Tommy guns and teddy bears,

Smoke-stack nights and whispered prayers,

Swing that brass but life ain’t fair,

Champagne tears in a gangster’s stare.

Tommy guns and teddy bears,

Streetlight sins and county stairs,

Making deals in smoky lairs…

While my baby waits upstairs.

(Big band riff — saxophone call & response)

Boss man nods with a diamond grin,

“Keep the bottles dry, keep the feds boxed in,”

Running rye through the river bend,

Pay your dues or you won’t see the end.

Jazz girls laugh in a velvet room,

Feathered hats and cheap perfume,

But every toast with crystal clinks

Sounds like chains when a father thinks.

Got a note in my coat from a tiny hand,

Crayon dreams I don’t understand,

“Daddy, come home if you can…”

But I’m married to the mob and the contraband.

It’s Tommy guns and teddy bears,

Brass band blues and vacant stares,

Silver dollars, electric chairs,

All that glitter never cares.

Tommy guns and teddy bears,

Running booze up broken stairs,

Counting cash in lion’s lairs…

While my baby says his prayers.

(Instrumental break — muted trumpet solo, upright bass walking strong)

Someday when the sirens fade,

And this house of cards I played is paid,

I’ll trade this iron for a toy parade,

Lay my sins where the drums once swayed.

No more docks in the dead of night,

No more deals in a barroom fight,

Just storybooks and lullabies,

Not headlines screaming alibis.

(Band swells — tempo rises again)

It’s Tommy guns and teddy bears,

Champagne kings in folding chairs,

Gold cufflinks and gray affairs,

Living fast on borrowed airs.

Tommy guns and teddy bears,

Trumpets cry but nobody cares,

All this swing and all these flares…

Ain’t worth missing bedtime prayers.

(Big band outro — brass stab hits, cymbal crash)

Tag Line (Spoken, smoky voice):

“Pour another round, boys… and save one teddy bear for me.”