"This is a story about your neighbor And my neighbor And the neighbor you are soon to become I guess what gets me is, I know two or three things about my neighbor And that’s all I wanna know And from that I can build a story First of all, he told me he was from Tampa Well, then explain the Indiana plates to me My neighbor’s name is Cunningham And the thing I think about, with a name like Cunningham, is If you’re a ham, then you weren’t very cunning, were you? That was a very private thought And unnecessary to be sharing with Cunningham But sometimes at night, when I hear things like that I think, what the hell is he building in there?..."


What’s he building in there?
What the hell is he building in there?
He has subscriptions to those magazines
He never waves when he goes by
He’s hiding something from the rest of us
He’s all to himself, I think I know why
He took down the tire-swing from the pepper tree
He has no children of his own, you see
He has no dog, he has no friends
And his lawn is dying
And what about those packages he sends?
What’s he building in there?
With that hook light on the stairs
What’s he building in there?
I’ll tell you one thing, he’s not building a playhouse for the children
What’s he building in there?
Now what’s that sound from underneath the door?
He’s pounding nails into a hardwood floor
And I swear to God I heard someone moaning low
And I keep seeing the blue light of a TV show
He has a router and a table saw
And you won’t believe what Mr. Sticha saw
There’s poison underneath the sink of course
There’s also enough formaldehyde to choke a horse
What’s he building in there?
What the hell is he building in there?
I heard he has an ex-wife in some place called Mayors Income, Tennessee
And he used to have a consulting business in Indonesia
But what’s he building in there?
He has no friends but he gets a lot of mail
I bet he spent a little time in jail
I heard he was up on the roof last night, signaling with a flashlight
And what’s that tune he’s always whistling?
What’s he building in there?
What’s he building in there?
We have a right to know

Tom Waits