Darlene likes her coffee cold
Paints a little rainbow with her eye shadow
Love is always playing on the radio
Behind the counter at the bar

Little strands of her yellow hair
Fall from her elbow in the cigarette air
All the other people don’t see her there
Behind the counter at the bar

Behind the counter at the bar
But she was gonna go far

Darlene sugars her cup
She says that time ain’t nothin’ but a paper cut
“I still watch every day the sun come up
Behind the counter at the bar”

And the cold doesn’t melt the sweet
At the bottom of her cup there’s a clumpy treat
She spoons it out and coffee sugar sweetens her teeth
Behind the counter at the bar

Behind the counter at the bar
But she was gonna go far

Darlene was her mama’s name
She was a Cincinnati queen with an auburn mane
Left her little Darlene with some money to claim
And so she opened up a bar

And now regret is pooling all ‘round her feet
Thick like oil, ready to be turned into heat
She would set it all aflame but she’s a house to keep
And of course, there’s the bar

She opened up a bar
But she was gonna go far