Abridged version from the day it was written.

Superman is in his late forties. He is living in a run down motel in old Vegas. Having been pardoned by death, he has turned into a recluse. He finds it difficult to fight the urge to save people in distress; he is coping with addiction. He has taken to unplugging his phone. One night, while driving around aimlessly, he managed to tweak his car radio so that he could receive transmissions from the police dispatch. He has since disassembled and reassembled the radio five times.

So we arrive at the scene of the song. Superman finds himself stuck in traffic while a schoolbus full of children teeters over the edge of a broken bridge that passes over a ravine. He receives information (over the police dispatch) that an aging Hollywood starlet is standing on the roof of the Four Queens casino threatening to jump.

Lyrics:

there’s a fly on the wall
a phone jack and a dead receiver
you can try and please them all
you can never fool a true believer

you know there’ll be damage
even if you pick up the phone
there’s no firm advantage
in leaving well enough alone

there’s a bus stuck on the bridge
traffic’s backed up and it’s neverending
you can try and save the kids
there was never any harm in pretending

that there won’t be damage
even if you see it a mile away
there’s no firm advantage
in taking the detour, they say

dispatch calls from the ground
10/4 and we’ve got a jumper
you can try and talk her down
but she’s never getting any younger

you know there’ll be damage
even if they bring out the trampoline
there’s no firm advantage
in meeting the police at the scene