He brings her a dozen roses
wrapped up in the daily news
she won't answer the question he poses
she refuses to marry a man in trashman shoes
God knows he's worked so hard
i do believe he's paid his dues
his clothes, his breath, his poetry
all smell like trashman shoes
trashman shoes
but he loves her
and he needs her
and she never tries to understand
and she shoves him
and she beats him
and she treats him like an old trashcan
still he loves her
and he needs her
and his love is always clean and true
but she snubs him
and she teases him
oh why does the girl refuse the man
in trashman shoes
in trashman shoes
roses grow on the trashpile
down at the city dump
they're a joke to all the trashman
and he's always the brunt
still he brings them home to her
when those red buds bloom
and she cheapens their sweet scent
w/the smell of her stale perfume
still a rose is a rose is a rose
by any other smell
w/his nose to the filthy grindstone
he knows it all too well
chorus
so i bought me a sunday paper
seeking some real life truth
and the headline story jumped out at me
from the front page of the daily news
said they found a body in a dumpster
cut up in two-inch squares
and they had a certain suspect
but they couldn't find him anywhere
he was a tired and used up lover
who only left two clues
a pile of smelly roses
and a pair of trashman shoes
