Le billard électrique

"No need to watch the needle"
Says the bar owner,
"It’s not gonna help
It’s running late!
Go play some pool
It’ll pass the time and feel good..."

He puts his twenty bucks in the machine
A click!
The balls jump to attention!
The first one bounces like it’s on fire
It races, it rings, it lights up everywhere!
Ding! Ding! It crackles like a machine gun
Ding! One eye goes 'tilt'... Ding! A mouth blooms!
A pin-up lights up from head to toe
In the back of the frosted glass display.
A hundred grand! It’s the ballet of magic numbers!
Two hundred! Re-ding-ding!!
The ball doesn’t listen...
It drops down the lane like it’s panicking
Damn! Missed!... Eight o’clock...
She’s not coming...

"What’s the point of watching the door?"
Says the bar owner,
"Don’t get worked up
You’re a good-looking guy
She’s not dead!
One lost, ten found..."

He puts twenty bucks back in the machine
With his tense fingers, he pulls the spring.
The ball sends electric flashes everywhere
Not as much, though,
As there is in his body...
Ah! That damn tease! She’ll still go...
Re-ding! Ding! There it is!
In the five hundred hole!!!
A free game, he gets the system
And ding! And re-ding!! It’s getting tense...
Ding! Ding! He grips, he shakes, he bangs...
Ding! Like it’s...
"Whoa! Better watch out...!
He’s gonna break everything," says the owner who’s worried
Damn! The game shuts down!... Nine o’clock...
No more hope...
He apologizes, he leaves pale,
Nerves relaxed, but heart so heavy.
"He’ll play somewhere else"
Says the naive owner
"He’ll play somewhere else, or just drown himself..."

Ding! A hundred grand! Ding! Ding! Two hundred grand!
Three hundred! Four hundred!
Five hundred grand!
Ding! Ding! Ding! Re-ding! Ding! Ding!... Tilt!!!