Wristband - Paul Simon

I stepped outside the backstage door to breathe some nicotine

And maybe check my mailbox, see if I can read the screen

Then I heard a click, the stage door lock

I knew just what that meant

I’m gonna have to walk around the block if I wanna get in

Wristband, my man, you’ve got to have a wristband

If you don’t have a wristband, my man, you don’t get through the door

Wristband, my man, you’ve got to have a wristband

And if you don’t have a wristband, my man, you don’t get through the door

I can’t explain it, I don’t know why my heart beats like a fist

When I meet some dude with an attitude saying «hey, you can’t do that, or this»

And the man was large, a well-dressed six-foot-eight

And he’s acting like Saint Peter standing guard at the Pearly…

Wristband, my man, you’ve got to have a wristband

You don’t have a wristband, you don’t get through the door

And I said «wristband?

I don’t need a wristband

My axe is on the bandstand, my band is on the floor»

I mean it’s just…

(Wristband)

(Wristband)

(Wristband)

(Wristband)

(Wristband)

(Wristband)

(Wristband)

The riots started slowly with the homeless and the lowly

Then they spread into the heartland towns that never get a wristband

Kids that can’t afford the cool brand whose anger is a short-hand

For you’ll never get a wristband and if you don’t have a wristband then you

can’t get through the door

No you can’t get through the door

No you can’t get through the door

Say you can’t get through the door, no