characters, oh they do continue

we hark back to the dank days of summer for this lad . . .

shim-sham jimmy

shim-sham jimmy made some cantakerous combobulations,
with a to and a fro that left hizzoner proud, and he glossed
his lips with an inky inspiration from some j.crew poster boy
cause today the preacherman's a'callin', callin' jimmy's name

shim-sham jimmy took his sherry straight, smooched castratas
with abandon, when the vapors held him in their scintillatin' grip
and told his daddy-tales to strangers on the streets of downtown
beaufort, giving southern comfort where southern comfort's due

he was a grief and a trial and a sore-felt tribulation, was this
fallen magnolia, this splendiferous celebration of a river delta's
pride, and he did a fine bojangle, with a softshoe skip-dee-doo
hopping over sidewalk cracks, making rootbeer jingles for the crowd

but when the man comes callin', and the dead kick up with pride,
and god's own angels turn away with a snicker and a hoot
then a lad knows as lads have always done that the hard time's a'come
but jimmy was a caution, and the preacher but a man

there is a tale worth the learnin', for the preachers and their wrath,
from the buttery tongue of a shim-sham boy, jimmy quick and easy
never live your sermons or dark old father sun, 'cause when the book
is finally written, you'll know your day is done