It came to pass
Like lightening striking from above
Electric flash
Just like lightening striking from above
Struck by precious love
Precious, precious love
So hopeless and so inspired
Why do you dream flat tires
When you dream flat tires?
You dream flat tires
With a jack and a spare you're there
Trying to get to where love is
Coming in on a wing and a prayer
Trying to get to where love is
'Cause love is precious love
You said it was precious
When first you felt my fire
Before you dreamed flat tires
You dreamed flat tires
You dream flat tires
"Woman she bounce back easy
But a man could break both his legs"
Are you telling me that to tease me?
Or just to hear me beg
"Please don't go!"
Cause I know that you love me
But, when are you going to let love be
Just a vague flirtation
Or extra special company?
'Cause love is precious love
Everybody knows it's precious
When first they feel that fire
Before they dream flat tires
They dream flat tires
They dream flat tires
"Woman she bounce back easy
But a man could break both his legs"
Do you tell me that to tease me
Or just to hear me beg
"Please don't be cold"
I know that you love me
But, what are you going to let love do?
(Flat tires, love, love is precious, flat tires,
love, love is precious, flat tires, love,
love is precious)
We got a break
Unbelievable
We got a break
Right in the middle of this
Hollywood heartache
We got this solid love
All around the town
Good hearts are going under
Love bandits con and plunder
Let nobody put asunder this solid love . . .
We got a chance
Hot dog darlin'
We got a chance
No more, no more
Fly-by-night romance
We got this solid love
Love has always made me
Feel so uneasy
I couldn't relax and just be me
More like some strange disease
Than this solid love . . .
Tested and blessed, darlin'
I'm gonna give you my very best
You're my hope
You're my happiness
Open my heart you do
You open my heart
You do
Yes you do
We got a break
Unbelievable
We got a break
Right in the middle of this
Hollywood heartache
We got this solid love
All around the town
Good hearts are going under
Love bandits con and plunder
Let nobody put asunder this solid love . . .
We got a chance
Hot dog darlin'
We got a chance
No more, no more
Fly-by-night romance
We got this solid love
Love has always made me
Feel so uneasy
I couldn't relax and just be me
More like some strange disease
Than this solid love . . .
Tested and blessed, darlin'
I'm gonna give you my very best
You are my happiness
Open my heart up you do
It takes cheerful resignation
Heart and humility
That's all it takes
A cheerful person told me
Nobody's harder on me than me
How could they be
And, nobody's harder on you than you
Betsy's blue
She says-"Tell me something good!"
You know I'd help her out if I only could
Oh, but sometimes the light
Can be so hard to find
At least the moon at the window--
The thieves left that behind
People don't know how to love
They taste it and toss it
Turn it off and on
Like a bathtub faucet
Oh sometimes the light
Can be so hard to find--
At least the moon at the window--
The thieves left that behind
I wish her heart
I know these battles
Deep in the dark
When the spooks of memories rattle
Ghosts of the future
Phantoms of the past
Rattle, rattle, rattle
In the spoon and the glass
Is it possible to learn
How to care and yet not care--
Since love has two faces
Hope and despair
And pleasure always turns to fear
I find--
At least the moon at the window--
The thieves left that behind
At least they left the moon
Behind the blind
Moon at the window
No demands
Just pleasurable sensations
Hand in hand
No far reaching plans
No, no-hand in hand
Well I keep on trying to understand
Daylight bright
How come I keep moving
From man to man to man?
Giving my sweet love--
Tasting sweet love--
Woman to man
Sometimes it's easy
You drift with the empty gladness
Like it all belongs
Sometimes it's low down sadness
Like it's all gone so wrong
When I saw you standing there
I said to myself
M-m-m here's a place
I could break down and care
I'll give him my sweet love--
Taste his sweet love--
Real sweet love--
Woman to man
I don't like to lie
But I sure can be phony when I get scared
I put my nose up in the air
Stoney, stoney when I get scared
When I saw you standing there
I was scared
I thought
Oh--I hope he can care--
I sure hope I can care--
I hope we can really care--
And share woman to man
Cause I've been moving
Man to man to man to man to man
Oh what am I looking for?
Man to man to man to man
A lot of good guys gone through my door
Man to man to man to man
To man to man to man
Man to man to man to man
Woman to man
Although I speak in tongues
Of men and angels
I'm just sounding brass
And tinkling cymbals without love--
Love suffers long--
Love is kind!--
Enduring all things--
Love has no evil in mind
If I had the gift of prophecy--
And all the knowledge--
And the faith to move the mountains
Even if I understood all of the mysteries--
If I didn't have love
I'd be nothing
Love--never looks for love--
Love's not puffed up--
Or envious--
Or touchy--
Because it rejoices in the truth
Not in iniquity
Love sees like a child sees
As a child I spoke as a child--
I thought and I understood as a child--
But when I became a woman--
I put away childish things
And began to see through a glass darkly
Where, as a child, I saw it face to face
Now, I only know it in part
Fractions in me
Of faith and hope and love
And of these great three
Love's the greatest beauty
Love
Love
Love
Well, I've heard of heartbreakers
But you take the cake
Ladies' man
You could charm the diamonds
Off a rattlesnake
Ladies' man
Ladies bring it on over
When you give 'em the glance
They don't stand a chance
First, you unfold them
Then you pigeon-hole 'em
Ladies' man
Well it sure takes a lot of
Good natured self-control
Ladies' man
When I'm so hot for you and
You're so cold, so cold
Ladies' man
Why do you keep on trying to
Make a man of me
Couldn't you just love me--
Like you love cocaine
Cocaine head games
Cross my heart I swear
I'm not trying to trick you
No tricks
Ladies' man
It's just a straight ahead feeling
I have for you
Nothing slick
Ladies' man
I guess you learn to refuse
What you think you can't handle
You're acting like a vandal
Wrecking the dream
At the first bad scene
Ladies' man
Ladies' man
Ladies' man
Ladies' man
Caught in the middle
Carol, we're middle class
We're middle aged
We were wild in the old days
Birth of rock 'n roll days
Now your kids are coming up straight
And my child's a stranger
I bore her
But, I could not raise her
Nothing lasts for long--
Nothing lasts for long--
Nothing lasts for long--
Down at the Chinese Cafe
We'd be dreaming on our dimes
We'd be playing--
";Oh my love, my darling";
One more time
Uranium money
Is booming in the old home town now
It's putting up sleek concrete
Tearing the old landmarks down now
Paving over brave little parks
Ripping off Indian land again
How long--how long
Short sighted business men
Ah, nothing lasts for long--
Nothing lasts for long--
Nothing lasts for long--
Down at the Chinese Cafe
We'd be dreaming on our dimes
We'd be playing--
";You give your love, so sweetly";
One more time
Christmas is sparkling
Out on Carol's lawn
This girl of my childhood games
With kids nearly grown and gone
Grown so fast
Like the turn of a page
We look like our mothers did now
When we were those kids' age
Nothing lasts for long--
Nothing lasts for long--
Nothing lasts for long--
Down at the Chinese Cafe
We'd be dreaming on our dimes
We'd be playing--
";Oh my love, my darling
I've hungered for your touch
A long lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love to me.";
(Time goes--where does the time go--
I wonder where the time goes. . .)
You're so square--baby
You're so square . . .
Oh, you don't like greasy diners
You don't like sleazy bands
You just want to go
To a movie show
And sit there holding hands
You're so square
Baby I don't care
You don't like going to parties
To toot and talk all night long
You just want to park
Where it's nice and dark
And kiss me, sweet and strong
You're so square
Baby I don't care
You don't know any dance steps
That are new
But nobody else can love me
Like you do
I don't know why my heart flips
I only know it does
I wonder why
I love you baby
I guess it's just because
You're so square
Darlin' I don't care
Oh, I don't know why my heart flips
I only know it does
I wonder why
I love you baby
I guess it's just because
You're so square
I don't care
You're so square
Why do fools fall in love?
Why do birds sing so gay
And lovers await the break of day
Why do they fall in love
Why does the rain fall from up above
Why do fools fall in love
Why do they fall in love
Love is a losing game
Love can be a shame
I know of a fool you see
For that fool is me
Tell me why
Tell my why
Why do birds sing so gay
And lovers await the break of day
Why do they fall in love
Why does the rain fall from up above
Why do fools fall in love
Why do they fall in love
Why does my heart skip this crazy beat
For I know
It will reach defeat
Tell me why
tell me why
words by Joni Mitchell
music by Charles Mingus
I'm down to a roll of dimes
I'm stalking the slot that's hot
I keep hearing bells all around me
Jingling in the lucky jackpots
They keep you tantalized
They keep you reaching for your wallet
Here in fools' paradise!
I talked to a cat from Des Moines
He said he ran a cleaning plant
That cat was clanking with coin
Well, he must have had a genie in a lamp
'Cause every time--I dropped a dime--I blew it
He kept ringing bells
Nothing to it!
He got three oranges
Three lemons
Three cherries
Three plums
I'm losing my taste for fruit
Watching the dry cleaner do it
Like Midas in a polyester suit
It's all luck!
It's just luck!
You get a little lucky and you make a little money!
I followed him down the strip
He picked out a booth at Circus Circus
Where the cowgirls fill the room
With their big balloons
The Cleaner was pitching with purpose!
He had Dinos and Pooh Bears
And lions--pink and blue there
He couldn't lose there!
Des Moines was stacking the chips
Raking off the tables
Ringing the bandit's bells
This is a story that's a drag to tell
(In some ways)
Since I lost every dime
I laid on the line
But the cleaner from Des Moines
Could put a coin
In the door of a John
And get twenty for one
It's just luck!
It was a rainy night
We took a taxi to your mother's home
She went to Florida and left you
With your father's gun, alone
Upon her small white bed
I fell into a dream
You sat up all the night and watched me
To see, who in the world I might be
I am from the Sunday school
I sing soprano in the upstairs choir
You are a holy man
On the F.M. radio
I sat up all the night and watched thee
To see, who in the world you might be.
You called me beautiful
You called your mother-she was very tanned
So you packed your tent and you went
To live out in the Arizona sand
You are a refugee
From a wealthy family
You gave up all the golden factories
Willy is my child, he is my father
I would be his lady all my life
He says he'd love to live with me
But for an ancient injury
That has not healed
He said I feel once again
Like I gave my heart too soon
He stood looking thru the lace
At the face on the conquered moon
And counting all the cars going up the hill
And the stars on my window sill
There are still more reasons why I love him
Willy is my joy, he is my sorrow
Now he wants to run away and hide
He says our love cannot be real
He cannot hear the chapel's pealing silver bells
But you know it's hard to tell
When you're in the spell if it's wrong or if it's real
But you're bound to lose
If you let the blues get you scared to feel
And I feel like I'm just being born
Like a shiny light breaking in a storm
Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like, when you're older, must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell him,
Take your time, it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return, we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Trina wears her wampum beads
She fills her drawing book with line
Sewing lace on widows' weeds
And filigree on leaf and vine
Vine and leaf are filigree
And her coat's a secondhand one
Trimmed in antique luxury
She is a lady of the canyon.
Annie sits you down to eat
She always makes you welcome in
Cats and babies 'round her feet
And all are fat and none are thin
None are thin and all are fat
She may bake some brownies today
Saying, you are welcome back
She is another canyon lady.
Estrella circus girl
Comes wrapped in songs and gypsy shawls
Songs like tiny hammers hurled
At beveled mirrors in empty halls
Empty halls and beveled mirrors
Sailing seas and climbing banyans
Come out for a visit here
To be a lady of the canyon.
Trina takes her paints and her threads
And she weaves a pattern all her own
Annie bakes her cakes and her breads
And she gathers flowers for her home
For her home she gathers flowers
And Estrella, dear companion
Colors up the sunshine hours
Pouring music down the canyon-
Coloring the sunshine hours
I slept last night in a good hotel
I went shopping today for jewels
The wind rushed around in the dirty town
And the children let out from the schools
I was standing on a noisy corner
Waiting for the walking green
Across the street he stood
And he played real good
On his clarinet, for free
Now me I play for fortunes
And those velvet curtain calls
I've got a black limousine
And two gentlemen
Escorting me to the halls
And I play if you have the money
Or if you're a friend to me
But the one man band
By the quick lunch stand
He was playing real good, for free
Nobody stopped to hear him
Though he played so sweet and high
They knew he had never
Been on their T.V.
So they passed his music by
I meant to go over and ask for a song
Maybe put on a harmony...
I heard his refrain
As the signal changed
He was playing real good, for free
Downtown
My darling dimestore thief
In the War of Independence
Rock 'n Roll rang sweet as victory
Under neon signs
A girl was in bloom
And a woman was fading
In a suburban room
I said, ";Take me to the dance";
";Do you want to dance?";
";I love to dance";
And I told him, ";They don't take chances
They seem so removed from romance";
";They've been broken in churches and schools
And molded to middle class circumstance";
And we were rolling, rolling, rock n' rolling
Downtown
The dance halls and cafes
Feel so wild you could break somebody's heart
Just doing the latest dance craze
Gail and Louise
In those push-up brassieres
Tight dresses and rhinestone rings
Drinking up the band's beers
Young love was kissing under bridges
Kissing in cars, kissing in cafes
And we were walking down Main Street
Kisses like bright flags hung on holidays
";In France they kiss on Main Street";
";Amour, mama, not cheap display";
And we were rolling, rolling, rock n' rolling
Downtown
In the pinball arcade
With his head full of pool hall pitches
And songs from the hit parade
He'd be singing ";Bye, Bye, Love";
While he's racking up his free play
Let those rock 'n roll choir boys
Come and carry us away
Sometimes Chickie had the car
Or Ron had a car
Or Lead Foot Melvin with his hot-wire head
We'd all go looking for a party
Looking to raise Jesus up from the dead
And I'd be kissing in the back seat
Thrilling to the Brando-like things that he said
And we'd be rolling, rolling, rock n' rolling
A strange boy is weaving
A course of grace and havoc
On a yellow skateboard
Thru midday sidewalk traffic
Just when I think he's foolish and childish
And I want him to be manly
I catch my fool and my child
Needing love and understanding
What a strange, strange boy
He still lives with his family
Even the war and the navy
couldn't bring him to maturity
He keeps referring back to school days
And clinging to his child
Fidgeting and bullied
His crazy wisdom holding onto something wild
He asked me to be patient
Well I failed
"Grow up!" I cried
And as, the smoke was clearing he said
"Give me one good reason why!"
What a strange, strange boy
He sees the cars as sets of waves
Sequences of mass and space
He sees the damage in my face
We got high on travel
And we got drunk on alcohol
And on love the strongest poison and medicine of all
See how that feeling comes and goes
Like the pull of moon on tides
Now I am surf rising
Now parched ribs of sand at his side
What a strange, strange boy
I gave him clothes and jewelry
I gave him my warm body
I gave him power over me
A thousand glass eyes were staring
In a cellar full of antique dolls
I found an old piano
And sweet chords rose up in waxed New England halls
While the boarders were snoring
Under crisp white sheets of curfew
We were newly lovers then
Papa's faith is people
Mama she believes in cleaning
Papa'a faith is people
Mana she's always cleaning
Papa brought home the sugar
Mama taught me the deeper meaning
She don't like my kick pleat skirt
She don't like my eyelids painted green
She don't like me staying up late
In my high-heeled shoes
Living for that Rock'n'Roll dancing scene
Papa says "Leave the girl alone, Mother
She's looking like a Movie Queen"
Mama thinks she spoilt me
Papa knows somehow he set me free
Mama thinks she spoilt me rotten
She blames herself
But Papa he blesses me
It's a rough road to travel
Mama let go now
It's always called for me
Sometimes I get that feeling
And I want to settle
And raise a child up with somebody
I get that strong longing
And I want to settle
And raise a child up with somebody
But it passes like the summer
I'm a wild seed again
A red sun came rolling down a grey sky
And the frogs and dogs and night birds then
Started up singing sweet country lullaby
You see that patch of city lights-
Somewhere in there's Cotton Avenue-
That's where I'm going to take myself tonight
With a spit shine on my dancing shoes
If you got a place like that to go
You just have to go there
If you got no place special
Well then, you just go no place special
I guess it's just the summer in the young blood
Ripe and juicy in the young blood
Teasing to go down to ...
Cotton Avenue
To hear the shiny shiny music
See all the shiny people dancing to it
Anytime you go to ...
Cotton Avenue
If you got a place like that to go
You know you got to go there
If you got no place special
Well then, you just go no place special
You see that summer storm brewing in the southern sky
By the time it hits here I'll be dancing high and dry
To rhythm and blues
On Cotton Avenue
Poor boys'll be hanging around outside in the street
They got all the latest words
They're dancing to the latest beat
While they're hustling and sizing you
On Cotton Avenue
If you got a place like that to go
You just have to go there
If you've got no place special
Well my dear
DOG EAT DOG
It's dog eat dog--I'm just waking up
The dove is in the dungeon
And the white-washed hawks pedal hate and call it love
Dog Eat Dog
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
And big wig financiers
DOG EAT DOG
On prime time crime the victim begs
Money is the road to justice
And power walks it on crooked legs
Prime--Time--Crime
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
And big wig financiers
Where the wealth's displayed
Thieves and sycophants parade
And where it's made--
the slaves will be taken
Some are treated well
In these games of buy and sell
And some like poor beast
Are burdened down to breaking
DOG EAT DOG
It's dog eat dog, ain't it Flim Flam man
Dog eat dog, you can lie, cheat, skim, scam
Beat'em any way you can
Dog eat Dog
You'll do well in this land of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
You could get to be
A big wig financier
Land of snap decisions
Land of short attention spans
Nothing is savored
Long enough to really understand
In every culture in decline
The watchful ones among the slaves
Know all that is genuine will be
Scorned and conned and cast away
Dog eat dog
People looking, seeing nothing
Dog eat dog
People listening, hearing nothing
Dog eat dog
People lusting, loving nothing
Dog eat dog
People stroking, touching nothing
Dog eat dog
Knowing nothing
Dog eat dog
The wind is in from Africa
Last night I couldn't sleep
Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here Carey
But it's really not my home
My fingernails are filthy, I got beach tar on my feet
And I miss my clean white linen and my fancy French cologne
Oh Carey get out your cane
And I'll put on some silver
Oh you're a mean old Daddy, but I like you fine
Come on down to the Mermaid Cafe and I will buy you a bottle of wine
And we'll laugh and toast to nothing and smash our empty glasses down
Let's have a round for these freaks and these soldiers
A round for these friends of mine
Let's have another round for the bright red devil
Who keeps me in this tourist town
Come on, Carey, get out your cane
I'll put on some silver
Oh you're a mean old Daddy, but I like you
Maybe I'll go to Amsterdam
Or maybe I'll go to Rome
And rent me a grand piano and put some flowers 'round my room
But let's not talk about fare-thee-welIs now
The night is a starry dome.
And they're playin' that scratchy rock and roll
Beneath the Matala moon
Come on, Carey, get out your cane
And I'll put on some silver
You're a mean old Daddy, but I like you
The wind is in from Africa
Last night I couldn't sleep
Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here
But, it's really not my home
Maybe it's been too long a time
Since I was scramblin' down in the street
Now they got me used to that clean white linen
And that fancy French cologne
Oh Carey, get out your cane
I'll put on my finest silver
We'll go to the Mermaid Cafe
Have fun tonight
I'm Don Juan's reckless daughter
I came out two days on your tail
Those two bald-headed days in November
Before the first snowflakes sail
Out on the vast and subtle plains of mystery
A split tongue spirit talks
Noble as a nickel chief
Striking up an old juke box
And he says:
";Snakes along the railroad tracks.";
He says, ";Eagles in jet trails ...";
He says, ";Coils around feathers and talons on scales ...
Gravel under the belly plates ...";
He says, ";Wind in the Wings ...";
He says, ";Big bird dragging its tail in the dust ...
Snake kite flying on a string.";
I come from open prairie
Given some wisdom and a lot of jive!
Last night the ghosts of my old ideas
Reran on channel five
And it howled so spooky for its eagle soul
I nearly broke down and cried
But the split tongue spirit laughed at me
He says, ";Your serpent cannot be denied.";
Our serpents love the whisky bars
They love the romance of the crime
But didn't I see a neon sign
Fester on your hotel blind
And a country road come off the wall
And swoop down at the crowd at the bar
And put me at the top of your danger list
Just for being so much like you are!
You're a coward against the altitude--
You're a coward against the flesh--
Coward--caught between yes and no
Reckless this time on the line for yes, yes, yes!
Reckless brazen in the play
Of your changing traffic lights
Coward--slinking down the hall
to another restless night
As we center behind the eight ball
As we rock between the sheets
As we siphon the colored language
Off the farms and the streets
Here in Good-Old-God-Save-America
the home of the brave and the free
We are all hopelessly oppressed cowards
Of some duality
Of restless multiplicity
(Oh say can you see)
Restless for streets and honky tonks
Restless for home and routine
Restless for country-safety-and her
Restless for the likes of reckless me
Restless sweeps like fire and rain
Over virgin wilderness
It prowls like hookers and thieves
Through bolt locked tenements
Behind my bolt locked door
The eagle and the serpent are at war in me
The serpent fighting for blind desire
The eagle for clarity
What strange prizes these battles bring
These hectic joys-these weary blues
Puffed up and strutting when I think I win
Down and shaken when I think I lose
There are rivets up here in this eagle
There are box cars down there on your snake
And we are twins of spirit
No matter which route home we take
Or what we forsake
We're going to come up to the eyes of clarity
And we'll go down to the beads of guile
There is danger and education
In living out such a reckless life style
I touched you on the central plains
It was plane to train my twin
It was just plane shadow to train shadow
But to me it was skin to skin
The spirit talks in spectrums
He talks to mother earth to father sky
Self indulgence to self denial
Man to woman
Scales to feathers
You and I
Eagles in the sky
You and I
Snakes in the grass
You and I
Crawl and fly
You and I
You've changed
The sparkle in your eyes is gone
Your smile is just a careless yawn
You're breaking my heart
You've changed
You've changed
Your kisses now are so blasé
You're bored with me in every way
I can't understand
You've changed
You've forgotten the words I love you
And the memories that we've shared
You've ignored all the stars up above you
I can't realize that you ever cared
You've changed
You're not the angel I once knew
No need to tell me, I know we're through
It's all over now
You've changed
You've forgotten the words I love you
And the memories that we've shared
You ignore all the stars up above you
I can't realize that you ever cared
You've changed
You're not the angel I once knew
No need to tell me, I know we're through
It's all over now
You've changed
You're my thrill
You do something to me
You send chills right through me
When I look at you
'Cause you're my thrill
You're my thrill
How my pulse increases
I just go to pieces
Every time I look at you
I can't keep still
Nothing seems to matter
Here's my heart on a silver platter
Oh where is my will
Why this strange desire
Flaming higher and higher
Every time I look at you
I can't keep still
You're my thrill
Oh where's my will
Why this strange desire
Flaming higher and higher
Every time I look at you
I can't keep still
Oh you're my thrill
I am a woman of heart and mind
With time on her hands
No child to raise
You come to me like a little boy
And I give you my scorn and my praise
You think I'm like your mother
Or another lover or your sister
Or the queen of your dreams
Or just another silly girl
When love makes a fool of me
After the rush when you come back down
You're always disappointed
Nothing seems to keep you high
Drive your bargains
Push your papers
Win your medals
Fuck your strangers
Don't it leave you on the empty side
I'm looking for affection and respect
A little passion
And you want stimulation-nothing more
That's what I think
But you know I'll try to be there for you
When your spirits start to sink
All this talk about holiness now
It must be the start of the latest style
Is it all books and words
Or do you really feel it?
Do you really laugh?
Do you really care?
Do you really smile
When you smile?
You criticize and you flatter
You imitate the best
And the rest you memorize
You know the times you impress me most
Are the times when you don't try
Who has seen the wind scalloping the sea
Or gliding like a swallow over villages and trees?
"I have," said the willow,
"And I begged him please to stay, but he went away,
He went on his own one day." And I sing
"One love have I," and he sings, "Now it's goodbye,"
And I sing "Part of me dies until I see you again."
Who has seen the sun through a parasol of leaves,
Through scattered ruby cloud fires, through the silver wings of bees?
"I have," said the waters, "and I held his face to mine,
But he left in time, he went in his own good time."
And I sing "One love have I," and he sings,
"Now it's goodbye," and I sing
"Part of me dies until I see you again."
Who has seen the stranger in a coat of simple brown,
With his face of many faces, with his eyes turned out of town?
I have and I kissed him and I begged him please to stay,
But he went away, with the sun and the wind away.
And I sing "One love have I," and he sings,
"Now it's goodbye," and I sing
"Part of me dies until i see you again"
Tomorrow is Sunday
Now there's only one day left to go
Till you walk by
Below my window
The weekends drive me mad
Holidays are oh too sad
'Cause you don't go
Below my window
No one knows I'm here
One day I just disappeared
And I took these two grey rooms up here
With a view
When you walk by
Below my window
You look so youthful
Time has been untruthful
Heaven knows I loved you
30 years ago
Hot days your shirt's undone
Rainy days you run
Oh and then you fade so fast
Below my window
No one knows I'm here
One day I just disappeared
And I took these two grey rooms up here
With a view
Only when you walk by
Below my window
When you walk by
Below my window
Below my window
Hey hey
Below my window
Below my window
Below my window
I am a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling through all these highs and lows
I heard there was no sickness
And no toil or danger
Just mercy and plenty
Where peaceful waters flow
Where peaceful waters flow
Come all you fair and tender school girls
Be careful now--when you court young men
They are like the stars
On a summer morning
They sparkle up the night
And they're gone again
Daybreak--gone again
If I'd only seen through the silky veils of ardor
What a killing crime this love can be
I would have locked up my heart
In a golden sheath of armor
And kept its crazy beating
Under strictest secrecy
High security
I wish I had the wings
Of Noah's pretty little white dove
So I could fly this raging river
To reach the one I love
But I have no wings
And the water is so wide
We'll have to row a little harder
It's just in dreams we fly
The Tenth World is an instrumental number, mainly African style drums--so there are no Joni lyrics, just the chant of the drummers
© 1994 Crazy Crow Music BMI
Let me speak, let me spit out my bitterness--
Born of grief and nights without sleep and festering flesh
Do you have eyes?
Can you see like mankind sees?
Why have you soured and curdled me?
Oh you tireless watcher! What have I done to you?
That you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true?
Once I was blessed; I was awaited like the rain
Like eyes for the blind, like feet for the lame
Kings heard my words, and they sought out my company
But now the janitors of Shadowland flick their brooms at me
Oh you tireless watcher! What have I done to you?
that you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true?
(Antagonists: Man is the sire of sorrow)
I've lost all taste for life
I'm all complaints
Tell me why do you starve the faithful?
Why do you crucify the saints?
And you let the wicked prosper
You let their children frisk like deer
And my loves are dead or dying, or they don't come near
(Antagonists: We don't despise your chastening
God is correcting you)
Oh and look who comes to counsel my deep distress
Oh, these pompous physicians
What carelessness!
(Antagonists: Oh all this ranting all this wind
Filling our ears with trash)
Breathtaking ignorance adding insult to injury!
They come blaming and shaming
(Antagonists: Evil doer)
And shattering me
(Antagonists: This vain man wishes to seem wise
A man born of asses)
Oh you tireless watcher! What have I done to you?
That you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true?
(Antagonists: We don't despise your chastening)
Already on a bed of sighs and screams,
And still you torture me with visions
You give me terrifying dreams!
Better I was carried from the womb straight to the grave.
I see the diggers waiting, they're leaning on their spades.
(Antagonists: Man is the sire of sorrow
Sure as the sparks ascend)
Where is hope while you're wondering what went wrong?
Why give me light and then this dark without a dawn?
(Antagonists: Evil is sweet in your mouth
Hiding under your tongue)
Show your face!
(Antagonists: What a long fall from grace)
Help me understand!
What is the reason for your heavy hand?
(Antagonists: You're stumbling in shadows
You have no name now)
Was it the sins of my youth?
What have I done to you?
That you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true?
(Antagonists: Oh your guilt must weigh so greatly)
Everything I dread and everything I fear come true
(Antagonists: Man is the sire of sorrow)
© 1994 Crazy Crow Music BMI
She pulls the shade;
It's just another sunny Sunday
She dodges the light like Blanche DuBois
Bright colors fade away on such a sunny Sunday;
She waits for the night to fall
Then she points a pistol through the door
And she aims at the streetlight
While the freeway hisses
Dogs bark as the gun falls to the floor
The streetlight's still burning;
She always misses
But the day she hits
That's the day she'll leave
That one little victory, that's all she needs!
She pulls the shade;
It's just another sunny Monday
Words and music by Joni Mitchell
This is the reoccurring dream
Born in the dreary gap between
What we have now
And what we wish we could have
More fulfilling--and less frustrating!
Out of the envy in our eyes
Look!
Glamorous picture people rise
Radiant!
Gleaming down from screens and pages
Ooh--glamour--before your very eyes!
Isn't it true--isn't it true?
Good question--I know--who cares
Look here they tell you
If you had this
If you had that
Latest styles and colors
If we had that for us mmmmm
Wouldn't it be fabulous
If you had that house, car, bottle, jar
Your lovers would look like movie stars
Movie stars, movie stars, movie stars
Order your youth secrets of the stars
Call now--just $9.99
Our discontent is their delight
They offer relief for the purchase price
Love in a bottle
Love on four wheels
Is that our new car Charles?
Isn't it true--isn't it true?
We guarantee it--pick up your phone and dial
See here they sell you
If you had this
If you had that
I want a new truck!--More power!
If you use this shampoo
True love will come to you
If you had that house, car, bottle, jar
Your lovers would look like movie stars
Movie stars, movie stars, movie stars
Hollywood's greatest legends
Recognize this?
Dreamer
Soft sexy hair
Dream on
He's going to love me in this ruby, ruby lipstick
Others will notice!--Sexy!--Who cares!
Recognize this?
Dreamer
Latest styles and colors
Oh, dream on, dream on, dream on
The fashion looks you've been hoping for
Sexy--sexy
Recognize this?
Dreamer
So special
Dream on
We will have happiness in heaven
The place you dreamed of retiring to--
Who cares
Recognize this?
Dreamer
I know that glamour is--sexy
Oh dream on dreamer
What could go wrong?
Dream on
Who cares!
Recognize this?
Dreamer
I'm afraid I can't go below two million
Dream on
Life would be easy if I had that new appliance
Food processors for all of us
Who cares!
Recognize this?
Dreamer
There are lots of strings
Dream on
We can solve everything in science
Naturally
Science
It's a picture of how to get what you want out of life
Recognize this?
I love it
Dreamer
Isn't there some other way?
Who cares!
Look at me. Won't you tell me
What you see behind the tinsel
Flower lady that you made
Me feel I must be.
Don't you know even tinsel flowers
Grow uneasy shining all the time.
Sometimes they find they can't even glow.
Could you love a blue straw-flower
With no mystic magic power?
Would you miss the glitter
Of your fantasy?
You know she isn't really me, baby.
Just to please you maybe
I can be a silver rose, but
Don't you know it's only straw-flower me?
Could you love a blue straw-flower
With no mystic magic power?
Would you miss the glitter
Of your fantasy?
You know she isn't really me, baby,
He bought her a diamond for her throat
He put her in a ranch house on a hill
She could see the valley barbecues
From her window sill
See the blue pools in the squinting sun
Hear the hissing of summer lawns
He put up a barbed wire fence
To keep out the unknown
And on every metal thorn
Just a little blood of his own
She patrols that fence of his
To a latin drum
And the hissing of summer lawns
Darkness
Wonder makes it easy
Darkness
With a joyful mask
Darkness
Tube's gone, darkness, darkness, darkness
No color no contrast
A diamond dog
Carrying a cup and a cane
Looking through a double glass
Looking at too much pride and too much shame
There's a black fly buzzing
There's a heat wave burning in her master's voice
Hissing summer lawns
He gave her his darkness to regret
And good reason to quit him
He gave her a roomful of Chippendale
That nobody sits in
Still she stays with a love of some kind
It's the lady's choice
It was a dark and a stormy night
Everyone was at the wing-ding
They weren't the wing-ding type
So they went up on the train bridge
Where the weather was howling
And oh, oh, my my
When that train comes rolling by
No paper thin walls, no folks above
No one else can hear
The crazy cries of love
They were laughing, they were dancing in the rain
They knew their love was a strong one
When they heard the far off whistle of a train
They were hoping it was going to be a long one
Cuz oh, oh, my my
When that train comes rolling by
No paper thin walls, no folks above
No one else can hear
The crazy cries of love
In the back booth of an all night cafe
Two dripping raincoats are hanging
Outside in the weather
The shade on the streetlight is clanging
And they smile ear to ear and eye to eye
Ice cream is melting on a piece of pie
Oh, my my
No one else can hear
The cries of love
Every kiss was sweet and strong
Every touch was totally tandem
As the train come a-rumbling along
They sang a lover's song of wild abandon
And oh, oh, my my
When that train comes rolling by
No paper thin walls, no folks above
No one else can hear
The crazy cries of love
No paper thin walls, no folks above
No one else can hear
You could have been more
Than a name on the door
On the thirty-third floor in the air
More than a credit card
Swimming pool in the backyard
While you still have the time
You could get away and find
A better life, you know the grind Is so ungrateful
Racing cars, whisky bars
No one cares who you really are
You're the keeper of the cards
Yes I know it gets hard
Keeping the wheels turning
And the wife she keeps the keys
She is so pleased to be
A part of the arrangement
You could have been more
Than a name on the door
On the thirty-third floor in the air
More than a consumer
Lying in some roam trying to die
More than a credit card
Swimming pool in the backyard
You could have been more
You could have been more
I met you on a midway at a fair last year
And you stood out like a ruby in a black man's ear
You were playing on the horses, you were playing on the guitar strings
You were playing like a devil wearing wings, wearing wings
You looked so grand wearing wings
Do you tape them to your shoulders just to sing
Can you fly
I heard you can! Can you fly
Like an eagle doin' your hunting from the sky
I followed with the sideshows to another town
And I found you in a trailer on the camping grounds
You were betting on some lover, you were shaking up the dice
And I thought I saw you cheating once or twice, once or twice
I heard your bid once or twice
Were you wondering was the gamble worth the price
Pack it in
I heard you did! Pack it in
Was it hard to fold a hand you knew could win
So lately you've been hiding - it was somewhere in the news
And I'm still at these races with my ticket stubs and my blues
And a voice calls out the numbers, and it sometimes mentions mine
And I feel like I've been working overtime, overtime
I've lost my fire overtime
Always playin' one more hand for one more dime
Slowin' down I'm gettin' tired!
Slowin' down
And I envy you the valley that you've found
'Cause I'm midway down the midway
Out on some borderline
Some mark off inbetween
I lay down golden-in time
And woke up vanishing
Sweet bird you are
Briefer than a falling star
All these vain promises on beauty jars
Somewhere with your wings on time
You must be laughing
Behind our eyes
Calendars of our lives
Circled with compromise
Sweet bird of time and change
You must be laughing
Up on your feathers laughing
Golden in time
Cities under the sand
Power, ideals and beauty
Fading in everyone's hand
Give me some time
I feel like I'm losing mine
Out here on this horizon line
With the earth spinning
And the sky forever rushing
No one knows
They can never get that close
Guesses at most
Guesses based on what each set of time and change is touching
Guesses based on what each set of time and change is touching
Don't know why
There's no sun up in the sky
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain't together
Keeps rainin' all of the time
Life is bare
Gloom and misery everywhere
Stormy weather
Just can't get my poor self together
I'm weary all the time
All the time
So weary all of the time
When you went away
The blues stepped up and met me
If he's gone to stay
That old rocking chair's going to get me
Every night I pray
That the Lord above will let me
Walk in the sunlight once more
I can't go on
Everything I had is gone
Stormy weather
Since my man and I ain't together
Keeps rainin' all of the time
Keeps rainin' all of the time
Sometimes I'm happy
Sometimes I'm blue
My disposition depends on you
I never mind the rain from the skies
As long as I have the sun in your eyes
Sometimes I love you
Sometimes I hate you
When I hate you
It's because I love you
That's how I am
So what can I do
I'm happy when I'm with you
Sometimes I'm happy
Sometimes I'm blue
My disposition depends on you
I never mind the rain from the skies
As long as I have the sun in your eyes
Sometimes I love you
Sometimes I hate you
When I hate you
It's because I love you
That's how I am
So what can I do
I'm happy when I'm with you
I'm happy when I'm with you
I'm happy when I'm with you
I'm happy when I'm with you
I'm happy when I'm with you
I went to Staten Island.
To buy myself a mandolin
And I saw the long white dress of love
On a storefront mannequin
Big boat chuggin' back with a belly full of cars...
All for something lacy
Some girl's going to see that dress
And crave that day like crazy
Little Indian kids on a bridge up in Canada
They can balance and they can climb
Like their fathers before them
They'll walk the girders of the Manhattan skyline
Shine your light on me Miss Liberty
Because as soon as this ferry boat docks
I'm headed to the church
To play Bingo
Fleece me with the gamblers' flocks
I can keep my cool at poker
But I'm a fool when love's at stake
Because I can't conceal emotion
What I'm feeling's always written on my face
There's a gypsy down on Bleecker Street
I went in to see her as a kind of joke
And she lit a candle for my love luck
And eighteen bucks went up in smoke
Sharon, I left my man
At a North Dakota junction
And I came out to the "Big Apple" here
To face the dream's malfunction
Love's a repetitious danger
You'd think I'd be accustomed to
Well, I do accept the changes
At least better than I used to do
A woman I knew just drowned herself
The well was deep and muddy
She was just shaking off futility
Or punishing somebody
My friends were calling up all day yesterday
All emotions and abstractions
It seems we all live so close to that line
And so far from satisfaction
Dora says, "Have children!"
Mama and Betsy say-"Find yourself a charity."
Help the needy and the crippled or put some time into Ecology."
Well, there's a wide wide world of noble causes
And lovely landscapes to discover
But all I really want right now
Is...find another lover
When we were kids in Maidstone, Sharon
I went to every wedding in that little town
To see the tears and the kisses
And the pretty lady in the white lace wedding gown
And walking home on the railroad tracks
Or swinging on the playground swing
Love stimulated my illusions
More than anything
And when I went skating after Golden Reggie
You know it was white lace I was chasing
Chasing dreams
Mama's nylons underneath my cowgirl jeans
He showed me first you get the kisses
And then you get the tears
But the ceremony of the bells and lace
Still veils this reckless fool here
Now there are 29 skaters on Wolmann rink
Circling in singles and in pairs
In this vigorous anonymity
A blank face at the window stares and stares and stares and stares
And the power of reason
And the flowers of deep feeling
Seem to serve me
Only to deceive me
Sharon you've got a husband
And a family and a farm
I've got the apple of temptation
And a diamond snake around my arm
But you still have your music
And I've still got my eyes on the land and the sky
You sing for your friends and your family
Once in a while in a big blue moon
There comes a night like this
Like some surrealist
Invented this 4th of July
Night ride home
Hula girls
And Caterpillar tractors in the sand
The ukulele man
The fireworks, this 4th of July
And night ride home
I love the man beside me
We love the open road
No phones till Friday
Far from the overkill
Far from the overload
Back at the bar, the band tears down
But out here in the headlight beams
The silver power lines
Gleam on this 4th of July
And night ride home
Round the curve and a big dark horse
Red taillights on his hide
Is keeping right alongside
Rev for stride, 4th of July
Night ride home
I love the man beside me
We love the open road
No phones till Friday
Far from the undertow
Far from the overload
Once in a while in a big blue moon
There comes a night like this
Like some surrealist
Invented this 4th of July
Night ride home
Night ride home
Night ride home
On a night ride home
In a shopping mall
Finally met the perfect girl
She is all that matters
The only one in all the world
Like a Barbie doll
Oh love is snakes and ladders
Snakes and ladders
Just to have and hold
Is the perfect air-brushed angel
Makes you hot just looking at her
Stapled into all his braincells
Like a centerfold
Oh love is snakes and ladders
Snakes and ladders
Get to the top and slide back down
Get to the bottom climb back up
Buy the townhouse
Call the preacher
Get to the bottom climb back up
Get to the top and slide back down
Get to the bottom climb back up
Set up credit for the lovely creature
The lovely creature
On a corporate climb
Set his sights on power for her
On a silver platter
He gave up happy hour for her
Perrier and lime
Oh love is snakes and ladders
Snakes and ladders
In a handsome world
Put her mind to social graces
All the privileged chatter
Setting pretty table places
For the girls in pearls
Oh love is snakes and ladders
Snakes and ladders
Get to the top and slide back down
Get to the bottom climb back up
Buy the carphone--
Call the broker
Get to the bottom climb back up
Get to the top and slide back down
Get to the bottom climb back up
Buy the wife a diamond choker
A diamond choker
True love--true love--true love
He's so nervous
New love--new love--new love
When he's with her
Oh--he's wasting away
True love--true love--true love
It's so curious
New love--new love--new love
Just to kiss her
To kiss her--to kiss her--to kiss her
To kiss her--to kiss her--to kiss her
To kiss her he has to shave
In the gilded mirrors
In the swing of fancy places
Where the black ties flatter
Started seeing other faces
Young-fogie-financiers
Oh love is snakes and ladders
Snakes and ladders
In the crimes of time
How the seasons steal away
How the rungs are shattered
First you're green then you're grey
Still the snakes unwind
Still playin' snakes and ladders
Snakes and ladders
Get to the top and slide back down
Get to the bottom climb back up
Sell the vineyard
Call the lawyer
Get to the bottom climb back up
Get to the top and slide back down
Get to the bottom climb back up
Gather garbage to destroy her
To destroy her
Ladders--ladders--ladders
The perfect girl
Ladders--ladders--ladders
The paper chase Love is snakes and ladders
Ladders--ladders--ladders
The social whirl
Ladders--ladders
The rat race
Barbie doll
Sisotowbell Lane
Noah is fixing the pump in the rain
He brings us no shame
We always knew that he always knew
Up over the hill
Jovial neighbors come down when they will
With stories to tell
Sometimes they do
Yes sometimes we do
We have a rocking chair
Each of us rocks his share
Eating muffin buns and berries
By the steamy kitchen window
Sometimes we do
Our tongues turn blue
Sisotowbell Lane
Anywhere else now would seem very strange
The seasons are changing
Everyday in everyway
Sometimes it is spring
Sometimes it is not anything
A poet can sing
Sometimes we try
Yes we always try
We have a rocking chair
Somedays we rock and stare
At the woodlands and the grasslands and the badlands 'cross the river
Sometimes we do
We like the view
Sisotowbell Lane
Go to the city you'll come back again
To wade thru the grain
You always do
Yes we always do
Come back to the stars
Sweet well water and pickling jars
We'll lend you the car
We always do
Yes sometimes we do
We have a rocking chair
Someone is always there
Rocking rhythms while they're waiting with the candle in the window
Sometimes we do
We wait for you
Nicotine Attack!
Nicotine, Nicotine!
Try Another
Try Another
Try Another
Empty, empty try another
Where are you now
Are you in some hotel room
Does it have a view?
Are you caught in a crowd
Or holding some honey
Who came on to you?
Why do you have to be so jive
O.K. hang up the phone
It hurts
But something survives
Though it's undermined
I'd still like to see you sometime
I'm feeling so good
And my friends all tell me
That I'm looking fine
I run in the woods
I spring from the boulders
Like a mama lion
I'm not ready to
Change my name again
But you know I'm not after
A piece of your fortune
And your fame
'Cause I tasted mine
I'd just like to see you sometime
Pack your suspenders
I'll come meet your plane
No need to surrender
I just want to see you again
We're in for more rain
I could sure use some sunshine
On my apple trees
It seems such a shame
To start off so kind
And end so heartlessly
I couldn't take them all on then
With a headful of questions
And hypes
So when the hopes got so slim
I just resigned
But I'd still like to see you sometime
© 1994 Crazy Crow Music BMI
I pulled up behind a Cadillac;
We were waiting for the light;
And I took a look at his license plate-
It said, "Just Ice."
Is justice just ice?
Governed by greed and lust?
Just the strong doing what they can
And the weak suffering what they must?
And the gas leaks
And the oil spills
And sex sells everything
And sex kills ...
Sex kills ...
Doctors' pills give you brand new ills
And the bills bury you like an avalanche
And lawyers haven't been this popular
Since Robespierre slaughtered half of France!
And Indian chiefs with their old beliefs know
The balance is undone-crazy ions-
You can feel it out in traffic;
Everyone hates everyone!
And the gas leaks
And the oil spills
And sex sells everything
And sex kills ...
Sex kills ...
All these jackoffs at the office
The rapist in the pool
Oh and the tragedies in the nurseries-
Little kids packin' guns to school
The ulcerated ozone
These tumors of the skin-
This hostile sun beating down on
This massive mess we're in!
And the gas leaks
And the oil spills
And sex sells everything
And sex kills ...
Sex kills ...
Sex kills ...
Sex kills ...
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
Rollin' past the rink
Past the record shack
Pink fins in the falling rain
Rollin'
To the blue lights past the water mains
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
Weekends we'd get
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
Rock 'n roll in the dashboard
Romance in the back of
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
Ray's dad teaches math
Zero
I'm a dunce
I'm a decimal in his class
Last night's kisses won't erase
Zero
I just can't keep the numbers in their place
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
Last night we had
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
Rock 'n roll in the dashboard
Romance in the back of
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
When it comes to mathematics
I got static in the attic
"No sir, nothin's clear!"
I'll be blackboard blind on Monday
Dreamin' of blue runways
On the edge of here
A little atmosphere
Blue lights out on airport road
Motown, in a field in a farmer's grove
Big planes comin' overhead
Lowdown
You can see the bolts
You can see the tire treads
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
Weekends we'd get
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
Oh, little darlin'
Rock 'n roll in the dashboard
Romance in the back of
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
Ray's Dad's Cadillac
It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
But it don't snow here
It stays pretty green
I'm going to make a lot of money
Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby cry
He tried hard to help me
You know, he put me at ease
And he loved me so naughty
Made me weak in the knees
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I'm so hard to handle
I'm selfish and I'm sad
Now I've gone and lost the best baby
That I ever had
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby say goodbye
It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
I wish I had a river
Goodbye. I'm bound away
On the morning plane.
I'll fly around the world,
Then I'll fly around again.
And when I've been from Egypt
To the snows of Nome,
Poor sad baby, that's when
I'll be coming home.
Rose gardens in the rain
And castles in the snow,
Post cards from distant places
Are poor company I know,
But when old gay Paree
Is just another town,
Poor sad baby, I'll
Come home and settle down.
When I've felt the friendship
Of a thousand hands,
When I'm drunk with the music
From a thousand bands,
A thousand bands,
I'll dance the streets by moonlight
And the fields by day.
Perchance my jeans won't jingle
But the mem'ry coins will stay.
I'll be a pauper queen,
A poorhouse millionaire.
Poor sad baby, I'll
this is my solo.., excuse me sir...would you please take your seat, im playing my solo... no im serious can't you see im playing a solo here...hey buddy sit down so i can concentrate on my solo....ok that's it, you would think that and artist could play a solo once in a while with ou any interuptions, here...you take my guitar and show us what is so important...what...you work here, your the usher...ooook, sorry ,soooo i'll just plsy my solo then.
Magdalene is trembling
Like a washing on a line
Trembling and gleaming
Never before was a man so kind
Never so redeeming
Enter the multitudes
In Exxon blue
In radiation rose
Ecstasy
Now you tell me
Who you gonna get to do the dirty work
When all the slaves are free?
(Who're you gonna get)
I am up a sycamore
Looking through the leaves
A sinner of some position
Who in the world can this heart healer be
This magical physician
Enter the multitudes
In Exxon blue
In radiation rose
Misery
Now you tell me
Who you gonna get to do the dirty work
When all the slaves are free?
(Who're you gonna get)
Enter the multitudes
The walking wounded
They come to this diver of the heart
Of the multitudes
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
Oh, climb down, climb down he says to me
From the middle of unrest
They think is light is squandered
But he sees a stray in the wilderness
And I see how far I've wandered
Enter the multitudes
In Exxon blue
In radiation rose
Apathy
Now you tell me
Who you gonna get to do the dirty work
When all the slaves are free?
(Who're you gonna get)
Enter the multitudes
The walking wounded
They come to this diver of the heart
Of the multitudes
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
Oh, all around the marketplace
The buzzing of the flies
The buzzing and the stinging
Divinely barren
And wickedly wise
The killer nails are ringing
Enter the multitudes
In Exxon blue
In radiation rose
Tragedy
Now you tell me
Who you gonna get to do the dirty work
When all the slaves are free?
(Who're you gonna get)
It fell from midnight skies
It drummed on the galvanized
In the washroom, women tracked the rain
Up to the make-up mirror
Liquid soap and grass
And Jungle Gardenia crash
On Pine-Sol and beer ...
It's stifling in here ...
I've got to get some air ...
I'm going outside to get some air
Back in my hometown
They would have cleared the floor
Just to watch the rain come down!
They're such sky oriented people--
Geared to changing weather ...
I'm floating off in time
I'm floating off
I'm floating off in time
When I was three feet tall
And wide eyed open to it all
With their tasseled teams they came
To McGee's General Store
All in their beaded leathers
I would tie on colored feathers
And I'd beat the drum like war ...
I would beat the drum like war
I'd beat the drum
I'd beat the drum like war
But when the church got through
They traded their beads for bottles
Smashed--on Railway Avenue
And they cut off their braids
And lost some link with nature
I'm floating into dreams
I'm floating off
I'm floating into my dreams
I dream paprika plains
Vast and bleak and God forsaken
Paprika plains
And a turquoise river snaking
(Where crows gaze--vigilant on wires
Where cattle graze the grasses
Far from the digits of business hours
The moon clock wanes and waxes--
But here all time is stripped away
Nowhere on these plains
Is a sprout or an egg in evidence
To measure loss or gain ...
Only a little Indian band
Come down from some windy mesa
No women to make them food and child
No expressions on their faces
I'm low in a helicopter
And the wind from whirling blades
Flaps their woven blankets
And flags their raven braids
How came they to this emptiness?
How came they to this dream?
How came I to this view
From a flying machine
Of earth and air and water
And a band of Indian men
Without herds or flocks or crops
Or families or fires to tend?
Like a phoenix up from ashes now
A blanket figure springs
With a fist raised up to turquoise skies
Like liberty
And at the point of vanishing
Where the sky and the earth meet
A bomb blooms
Deadly mushroom
White
Gold
Heat
Like a phoenix up from ashes
Up from violent mysteries
And growing 'till the giant blast
Is to it like a golfer's tee
there comes a child's beach ball
And memory takes me back
to the beach to toss it up
to the garage to get it patched
A pink and yellow beach ball
Rolling
Grand
Detached
Turning the blues and greens of earth
From space probe photographs
I float out of the hovercraft
Naked as infancy
And weightless
And drifting
Horizontally
Like a filing to a magnet
Like the long descent of rain
I am drawn
I fall against the ball
And lose paprika plains
I suckle at my mother's breast
I embrace my mother earth
I remember perforated blinds
Over the crib of my birth
And just as Eve succumbed
To reckless curiosity
I take my sharpest fingernail
And slash the globe to see
Below me--
Vast Paprika plains
And the snake the river traces
And a little band of Indian men
With no expressions on their faces.)
The rain retreats
Like troops to fall on other fields and streets
Meanwhile they're sweet talking and name calling
And brawling on the fringes of the floor
I spot you through the smoke
With your eyes on fire
From J&B; and coke
As I'm coming through the door
I'm coming back
I'm coming back for more!
The band plugs in again
You see that mirrored ball begin to sputter lights
And spin
Dizzy on the dancers
Geared to changing rhythms
No matter what you do
I'm floating back
All the people at this party
They've got a lot of style
They've got stamps of many countries
They've got passport smiles
Some are friendly
Some are cutting
Some are watching it from the wings
Some are standing in the centre
Giving to get something
Photo Beauty gets attention
Then her eye paint's running down
She's got a rose in her teeth
And a lampshade crown
One minute she's so happy
Then she's crying on someone's knee
Saying laughing and crying
You know it's the same release
I told you when I met you
I was crazy
Cry for us all Beauty
Cry for Eddie in the corner
Thinking he's nobody
And Jack behind his joker
And stone-cold Grace behind her fan
And me in my frightened silence
Thinking I don't understand
I feel like I'm sleeping
Can you wake me
You seem to have a broader sensibility
I'm just living on nerves and feelings
With a weak and a lazy mind
And coming to peoples parties
Fumbling deaf dumb and blind
I wish I had more sense ot humor
Keeping the sadness at bay
Throwing the lightness on these things
Laughing it all away
Laughing it alI away
Got to be a winner--trophy winner
Get to hold your head up high up!
Number one!
Got to be a winner--trophy winner
Get to hold your head up high up!
Number one!
Number one
Number one
Honey tell me--
When your working day is done--
Were you reaching for the high rung--
Reaching to be number one?
You get a car
You want a boat
You want an eenie-meenie-miney miney-moe
Oh there must be more to living
Than a mortgage and a lawn to mow
Sweaty work
And lucky breaks
And blood and tears is all it takes
To be a winner!
People cheer
And people gasp
People want your autograph
When you're a winner!
Run, run, run, run
Let's see you run
We'll be betting by the starting gun!
Shall we shower you with flowers
Or shall we shun ya
When your race is run?
Will we shower you with flowers
Or will we shun ya
When your race is run?
Will they shower you with flowers
Or will they shun ya
When your race is run?
Got to be a winner--trophy winner
Get to hold your head up high up!
Number one!
Maybe I'm just kidding myself when I say I love you
I don't know--
Loving without trusting
You get--frostbite and sunstroke
I wish I felt nothing!
You pimp--laughing and strutting her to my chartered seat
Your old off night back street
It's been stinger to stinger, darling
It's been heart to heart
You still keep me from finishing
Any new love I start
Now she's moved in with you
She's keeping your house neat
And your sheets sweet
And I'm your off night back street
I can feel your fingers
Feeling my face
There are some lines you put there
And some you erase
Maybe I'm just dramatizing
I don't care
It's home--it can be heaven
When we play fair
But these sentimental journeys
Late at night--
High in some back room you're calling me
To be your off night back street
You give me such pleasure
You bring me such pain
Who left her long black hair
The general offered
No apologies
He said "The soldiers erred in judgement
They should have hired a hooker"
No apologies
to the outraged Japanese
No "Sorry little girl"
The pigs just took her
Tireskids and teethmarks
What happened to this place?
Lawyers and loan sharks
Are laying America to waste
Freddie said that "Juan thinks, I think
He's the devil"
What a lofty title
For such a petty little tyrant
Bigger beasts abound
And they kick this world around
At this crazy speed
With violence and greed
Tireskids and teethmarks
What happened to this place?
Lawyers and loan sharks
Are laying America to waste
So what makes a man a man
In these tough times
As druglords buy up the banks
And warlords radiate the oceans
Ecosystems fail
Snakes and snails and puppy tails
Are wagging in the womb
Beneath the trampled moon
Tireskids and teethmarks
What happened to this place?
Lawyers and loan sharks
Are laying America to waste
The general offered
Moon in the mirror,
Won't you stay a while tonight?
All things of beauty
Are too soon out of sight.
I know it's a selfish plea;
You must light the hearts of more than me.
There's a girl at her window;
Now she's trying to catch your eye.
But oh, pretty stranger,
You must keep on passing by.
Moon in the mirror, I don't know you;
Just a reflection of kisses
And whispers and indigo skies.
Moon in the mirror, look below you.
Moon's looking back and they're loving
And longing and telling no lies.
Moon in the mirror,
I will ask you one more time,
Not for a reason and not for a rhyme,
But please tell me if you can,
Have you seen a moonlit man?
He's so very like you,
You could see him from afar.
Perhaps he's a misplaced moonbeam
Or a banished star.
Moon in the mirror, he's so like you.
Light up the room for an hour;
A smile or the beat of my heart.
Oh, how my heart tried to fight him,
Fight against mirrors of moonlight
Or lovelight. You lost from the start,
I'm going to take you to
My special place
It's a place that you
Like no one else I know
Might appreciate
I don't go there with anyone--but
You're a special case
For my special place
For my secret place
People talk to tell you something
Or to take up space
Guess I'm only talking
To be talking to
Your pretty face
I don't talk much to anyone--but
You're a special case
For my special place
My secret place
I was born and raised
In New York City
I'm just getting used to Colorado--
Oh street bravado
Carry me
Why did you bring me to
A place so wild and pretty?
Are there pigeons in this park--
Muggers after dark--
In these golden trees--
In the secret place?
I'm going to take you to
My special place
It's a place no amount of hurt and anger
Can deface
I put things back together there
It all falls right in place--
In my special space
My special place
Once I saw a film
In New York City
That was shot in Colorado--
Girl meets desperado
In the trembling mountain trees
Out of all of the girls that you see
In bleachers and cafe windows
Sitting--flirting with someone
Looking to have some fun
Why did you pick me?
For the secret place
Words and music by Isham Jones and Gene Willaden (1942)
So here's to you
May your dreams come true
May old father time
Never be unkind
And through the years
Save your smiles and your tears
They're just souvenirs
They'll make music in your heart
Remember this
Each new day is a kiss
Sent from up above
With an angel's love
So here's to you
May your skies be blue
And your love blessed
That's my best to you
Remember this
Each new day is a kiss
Sent from up above
With an angel's love
So here's to you
May your skies be blue
And your love blessed
What's the story, Mr. Blue
Did she pull the rug from under you
Did she chop your dreams up two by two
And kick them out the door
I could sympathize you, son
But pity words stick to my tongue
And sorry words have all been sung
So many times before
Oh, Mr. Blue, you blew your chances long ago
Oh, Mr. Blue, you're through
Quit acting like you didn't know
Hang on one more day or two
Then I promise I'll be laying you
Odds that she's found someone new
While you stand around and rust
She don't need no part-time man
With no part-time answer, understand
She don't want an hour's fall of sand
For a lifetime full of dust
Oh, Mr. Blue, you blew your chances long ago
Oh, Mr. Blue, you're through
Quit acting like you didn't know
Mr. Blue, you missed the shot
Didn't turn out quite the way you thought
It would, I'll bet, cause you got caught
Out playing Donald Juan
She's got polish, she's got class
And someday when on the street you pass her house
You'll wonder why the grass
Looks greener on her lawn
Oh, Mr. Blue, you blew your chances long ago
Oh, Mr. Blue, you're through
Quit acting like it isn't so
Midsummer rain, you and I together
I'm only dreaming again and I will forever it seems
Midsummer dawn, kisses in a doorway
I can't believe they are gone so I live our story in dreams
But baby I always wake up lonely
Mornings don't comfort me
Sometimes I think you're only
A midsummer's night's dream
I should have know, friends gave me warning
You had a dream of your own, now our midsummer mornings are through
Follow your star, it will lead you somewhere
Love is not really so far if in dream I can come there to you
But baby I always wake up lonely
Mornings don't comfort me
Sometimes I think you're only
A midsummer's night's dream
I was in an all night movie
When I heard the usher say
Here comes the midnight cowboy
Got his gun hired out for pay;
You were walking kind of faded
From the Netherlands Hotel
With your hat tipped off to ladies
Really looking well.
Aw Joe, why don't you go back home?
Really hate to see you falling down
Get out of town.
Well you came to New York City With a calendar full of gold
Now they locked it up in the bedroom
And they kicked you out in the cold;
Now you can't afford a little blanket
You can get one from a friend
You can trick one off the corner
You can even keep the change - to spend.
Hey Joe, why don't you go back home?
Really hate to see you come falling down
Get out of town.
There's a soldier in the depot
He's a fighting nightingale
Wearing western boots and buckskin on
Reading fortunes from the penny scale;
Now today he's got a a quarter
For the photograph machine
But tomorrow he'll be lonely lonely
That's the way it's always been.
Poor Joe, why don't you go back home?
Really hate to see you falling down
Get out of town.
I was in an all night movie
When I heard the usher say
Here comes the midnight cowboy again
Got his gun hired out for pay;
You were walking kind of faded
From the Netherlands hotel
Hat tipped off to ladies
Tipped off to gentlemen as well.
Well Joe, why don't you go back home?
Find yourself a girl and settle down
Get out of town
Get out of town
Find yourself a girl, go and settle down
Hey Joe, looking more lost than found
Get out of town.
Where to begin to end uncertainty
Do I leave silently or boldly say farewell
How can I think of times that used to be
And find the smile I need to wish you well
But I won't cry for dusty memories
No I won't cry for dreams that couldn't be
No I won't cry
The daffodils the sorry candlelight
To buy my heart when loveless words were spoken
Too many tears to welcome in the night
Too many promises the days have broken
So I won't cry for kisses out of reach
No I won't cry I’ll practice what I preach
And I won't cry
No flowers now no silly candle games
Somehow my feet won't lead me to the doorway
And so I stand and wonder who's to blame
Waiting for one last word that calls to beg me stay
But I won't cry if that world never comes
No I won't cry for now the story's done
Since I lost you
I can't get through the day
Without at least one big boo-hoo
The pain won't go away
What am I gonna do?
Man from Mars
This time you went too far
I fall apart
Everytime I think of you
Swallowed by the dark
There is no center to my life now
No grace in my heart
Man from Mars
This time you went too far
I call and call
The silence is so full of sounds
You're in them all
I hear you in the water
And the wiring in the walls
Man from Mars
He said "You think you're a lady
But I know you're a woman
We are as young as the night"
I said "No telephones ringing
No company coming
Just the lap of the lake and the firelight"
And the lonely loon and the crescent moon
What a pocket of heavenly grace
But in France they say
Everyday
Love puts on a new face
Love has many faces
About a month or so later he said
"Why can't you be happy
You make me feel helpless when you get this way"
I said "I'm up to my neck in alligators
Jaws gnashing at me
Each one trying to pull a piece away"
Darling, you can't slay these beasts of prey
Some bad dreams even love can't erase
But in France they say
Everyday
Love puts on a new face
Love has many faces
He said "I wish you were with me here
The leaves are electric
They burn on the river bank
Countless heatless flames"
I said "Send me some pictures then
And I'll paint pyrotechnic
Explosions of your autumn till we meet again
I miss your touch and your lips so much
I long for our next embrace"
But in France they say
Everyday
Love puts on a new face
Love puts on a new face
Love has many faces
Joni's lighthearted take on "London Bridge" was a crowd pleaser in her mid-sixties club show, before she signed her first recording contract. This transcription includes spoken patter that, combined with her music, enchanted audiences back in the early days when Joni was playing the smaller, more intimate venues she has always enjoyed most.
(Spoken words are in italics)
London Bridge is falling down
See the people in my town
They're the ones who bring it down
(It's true they've been for centuries,
walking by it and saying, you know,
London Bridge really is falling down, poor thing,
it just fell down in shame)
My fair lady-o
London Bridge is falling up
Save the tea leaves in my cup
Guess the cup is cracking up
My fair lady-o
(I'll have to get a Pyrex one)
London Bridge is up for sale
Booze heads put my friend in jail
Spent my bridge money on bail
My fair lady-o
(Sure would've like to have bought that bridge)
(Couldn't let him go to jail)
If the bridge belonged to me
I would serve you tarts and tea
Smiles, that's all the tolls would be
(Don't grant you people would be getting across at all)
My fair lady-o
On the bridge there stands a car
Painted with peculiar flowers
It's the Beatles' it's not ours
(Guess they're looking at the bridge)
(Hope they buy it)
My fair lady-o
London Bridge is falling down
(Something like that)
London Bridge is coming down
Coming down on London Bridge
Ice cubes melting in my fridge
(They always, do you know those fridges are terrible, they're always melting things and ice cubes are dripping all over the floor)
(And the vegetables are all rotten and your friend turns to you in her very British way and she says: "You know I paid two bob for this. It smells a bit peculiar doesn't it, but don't you think... well, we can serve it anyway" and she does)
Coming down on London Bridge
Mutton rotting in my fridge
Coming dow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Coming-ming-ming-ming-ming-ming
(A little electronic music there for your pleasure)
Coming down on London Bridge
My fair lady-o
For our first time together I wanted everything to be just right
I prayed for good weather
For we were going to a concert in the park that night
I wanted violins and sweet romantic melodies
But when the band began to play
It didn't turn out quite that way
For there were trumpets and trombones making sad sounds and glad tones
And notes that I will never understand
And there were tin horns and oboes and saxophone solos
Now you know and I know love is like a big brass band
We wasted no time now, we planned a wedding for the first of June
Hear the wedding bells chime now
And see the folks all watching for the bridge and groom
Waiting for violins and sweet romantic melodies
But when we started down the aisle
You should have seen the preacher smile
For there were trumpets and trombones making sad sounds and glad tones
And notes that I will never understand
And there were tin horns and oboes and saxophone solos
Play, Little David
Play Little David, play
David he would sit in some dark corner
Seemed to melt the shadows with his eyes
And the song that he was playing
Was nothing less than prayin'
And nothing more than sayin' "I'm alive."
Won't you play, Little David
Play Little David, play
David he would send them notes a-flyin'
Some that laughed and some that felt like tears
He would play them fast or slowly
Play them high or lowly
But they always come out holy to my ear
Won't you play, Little David, play Little David, play
I don't need no Sunday sermon
Need no Sunday shoes
When I hear Little David playing
I got religion through and through
David he would send them notes a-flyin'
Some that laughed and some that felt like tears
He would play them fast or slowly
Play them high or lowly
But they always come out holy to my ear
Won't you play, Little David, play Little David, play
I don't need no Sunday sermon
Need no Sunday shoes
When I hear Little David playing
I got religion through and through
David he would send them notes a-flyin'
Some that laughed and some that felt like tears
He would play them fast or slowly
Play them high or lowly
But they always come out holy to my ear
Won't you play, Little David, play Little David, play
Won't you play, Little David, play Little David, play
The sleepless nights
The daily fights
The quick toboggan when you reach the heights
I miss the kisses and I miss the bites
I wish I were in love again
The broken dates
The endless waits
The lovely loving and the hateful hates
The conversations with the flying plates
I wish I were in love again
No more pain
No no more strain
Now I'm sane
But I'd rather be punch drunk
The flying fur of cat and cur
The fine mismatching of a him and her
I've learned my lesson but
I wish I were in love again
The furtive sigh
The blackened eye
The words I love you 'til the day I die
The self-deception that believes that lie
I wish I were in love again
When love congeals
It soon reveals
The faint aroma of performing seals
The double-crossing of a pair of heels
I wish I were in love again
No more care
No more despair
Now I'm all there
But I'd rather be punch drunk
Believe me sir, I much prefer
The classic battle of a him and her
I don't like quiet and I wish I were
In love again
In love again
"Kiss my ass!" I said
and I threw my drink
Tequila trickling
Down his business suit
Must be the Irish blood
Fight before you think
Turn it now
You can't cowtow
You can't undo it
It's his town
And that went down
Like a lead balloon
Lead lead lead lead balloon
He said "Sic her, Rover"
That went over
Like a lead balloon
Lead lead lead lead balloon
Lead balloon
An angry man is just an angry man
But an angry woman
Bitch!
I had to ask him for a helping hand
It came with the heart
Of a Bonaparte
Of a frozen fish
It's his town
And that went down
Like a lead balloon
Lead lead lead lead balloon
He said "Sic her, Rover"
That went over
Like a lead balloon
Lead lead lead lead balloon
Lead balloon
Lead balloon, lead lead lead lead balloon
Lead balloon, lead lead lead lead balloon
Lead balloon, lead lead lead lead balloon
Lead balloon
It's his town
and that went down
Like a lead balloon
Lead lead lead balloon
He said "Sic her, Rover"
That went over
Like a lead balloon
Lead lead lead lead balloon
Lead balloon
Lead lead lead lead balloon
Lead lead lead lead balloon
© 1994 Crazy Crow Music BMI
Last chance lost--
In the tyranny of a long good-bye
Last chance lost--
We talk of us with deadly earnest eyes
Last chance lost--
We talk of love in terms of sacrifice and compromise
Last chance--
Last chance lost
Last chance lost--
The hero cannot make the change
Last chance lost--
The shrew will not be tamed
Last chance lost--
They bicker on the rifle range
Blame takes aim
Last chance--
I'm always running behind the time
Just like this train
Shaking into town
With the brakes complaining
I used to count lovers like railroad cars
I counted them on my side
Lately I don't count on nothing
I just let things slide
The station master's shuffling cards
Boxcars are banging in the yards
Jealous Iovin'Il make you crazy
If you can't find your goodness
'Cause you lost your heart
I went looking for a cause
Or a strong cat without claws
Or any reason to resume
And I found this empty seat
In this crowded waiting room
(Everybody waiting)
Old man sleeping on his bags
Women with that teased up kind of hair
Kids with the jitters in their legs
And those wide, wide open stares
And the kids got cokes and chocolate bars
There's a thin man smoking a fat cigar
Jealous lovin'lI make you crazy
If you can't find your goodness
'Cause you've lost your heart
What are you going to do now
You've got no one
To give your love too...
Well I've got this berth and this roll down blind
I've got this fold up sink
And these rocks and these cactus going by
And a bottle of German wine to drink
Settle down into the clickety cIack
With the clouds and the stars to read
Dreaming of the pleasure I'm going to have
Watching your hairline recede
(My vain darling)
Watching your hair and clouds and stars
I'm rocking away in a sleeping car
This jealous lovin's bound to make me
Crazy
I can't find my goodness
I lost my heart
Oh sour grapes
I'll try to keep myself open up to you
That's a promise that I made to love
When it was new
"Just like Jericho" I said
"Let these wall come tumbling down"
I said it like I finally found the way
To keep the good feelings alive
I said it like it was something to strive for.
I'll try to keep myself open up to you
And approve your self expression
I need that, too
I need your confidence, baby
And the gift of your extra time
In turn I'll give you mine
Sweet darling, it's a rich exchange
It seems to me
It's a warm arrangement!
Anyone will tell you
Just how hard it is to make and keep a friend
Maybe they'll short sell you
Or maybe it's you
Judas, in the end
When you just can no longer pretend
That you're getting what you need
Or you're giving out anything for them to grow and feed on.
I'll try to keep myself open up to you
It gets easier and easier to do
Just like Jericho
Let these walls come tumbling down now
Let them fall right on the ground
Let all these dogs go running free
The wild and the gentle dogs
Jeremy sits in the sun and he stares at the stripes
On the floor from the bars on the door,
Thinking of rabbits he kept as a child
In a chicken wire cage; he remembers the rage
Of his father the night he made his one call;
The relative stranger who left him to fall
To the mercy of judges with no shield at all.
Now he sits and he stares at the punishing wall.
Jeremy picks up the crayon he saved and he
Writes in the dark and he thinks of the park
And the flowers he gave to the girl with the bells.
He remembers he smile; it was gone at the trial.
Hear the footsteps of night guards patrolling the halls.
There are coughers and talkers who don't sleep at all.
'Midst the cursewords and worse words
That someone had scrawled
He writes her a poem on the punishing wall.
Mary, sweet Mary, it's dark and it's cold;
It's all of the stories you've ever been told.
Keep the jar on the window, keep the lock on the door.
keep your mind on the man; keep away from the store.
Oh, Jeremy gentle, oh, Jeremy kind
As you walk with the thieves and the killers believe
That our numbers are growin'; the change has to come.
I was alone and sickly
It was a quarter of a moonlit night
I heard him cry through my window shade
And it filled me so full of fright
But I could not turn my back on him
I put on the back porch light
"Can I help you," said the Good Samaritan
"Can I help you," said the Good Samaritan
I brought him bread and a blanket
But I told him, "You can't come in"
You can sleep outside in the tool shed
Though a little rain comes in
Oh, I don't know you, you're a stranger
I don't know where you've been
"You can't come in here," said the keeper of the inn
"I don't want you in here," said the keeper of the inn.
But I couldn't sleep for the thinking
You know my night got so insane
I thought, maybe he was an angel
And I left him out in the rain
And what if he was the devil
He'd be coming after me again
But when I woke in the weary morning he was gone
When I woke in the weary morning he was gone
I thought maybe he was an angel
And I left him out in the rain
And what if he was the devil
He'd be coming after me again
When I woke in the weary morning he was gone
Love is not a game with me
Played with inconsistency
Though my love turned out to be
Here today and gone tomorrow
Love is like a candlelight
Sometimes flickering sometimes bright
Sometimes burning up the night
Here today and gone tomorrow
Live is something of a rover
Comes to town and takes a lover
Packs his bag and then it's over
Here today and gone tomorrow
Love's a field of sugar cane
Sunshine smiles and teardrop rain
Feed it till it's cut again
Here today and gone tomorrow
Loves a rainbow in the sky
None can reach it, still they try
Rainbow chasing fool am I
Here today and gone tomorrow
Love must be the birds in spring
Only lovers hear them sing
All too soon they're on the wing
Here today and gone tomorrow
No love is not a game with me
Played with inconsistency
Though my love turned out to be
Here today and gone tomorrow
The Minus is loveless
The talks to the land
And the leaves fall
And the pond over-ices
She don't know the system, Plus
She don't understand
She's got all the wrong fuses and splices
She's not going to fix it up
Too easy
The masking tape tangles
It's sticky and black
And the copper
Proud headed Queen Lizzie
Conducts little charges
That don't get charged back
Well the technical manual's busy
She's not going to fix it up too easy
And she holds out her flashlight
And she shines it on me
She wants me to tell her
What the trouble might be
Well, I'm learning
It's peaceful
With a good dog and some trees
Out of touch with the breakdown
Of this century
They're not going to fix it up
Too easy
We once loved--together
And we floodlit that time
Input--Output--Electricity
But the lines overloadedd
And the sparks started flying
And the loose wires
Were lashing out at me
She's not going to fix it up
Too easy
But she hold out her candle
And she shines it in
And she begs him to show her
How to fix it again
While the song that he sang her
To soothe her to sleep
Runs all through her circuits
Like a heartbeat
She's not going to fix it up
At the far end of the midway
by the double ferris wheel
There's a band that plays so snakey
You can't help how you feel
Emmie Mae ran away
With a man as dark as night
You can see him, if you go there
Second trumpet to the right
They play "Night Train"
So snakey
Black girls dancing
Long and lanky
Barkers barking
Step right up, folks!
The show is about to begin
It's Harlem in Havana time
Step right in!
Silver spangles
See 'em dangle in the farm boy's eyes
Hootchie kootchie
Auntie Ruthie would've cried
If she knew we were on the inside.
When Emmie Mae ran away
She came back a bottle blonde
God! The gossips had a gourmet feast
Chomping on how she was born
But miracle of miracles
Cuz we were underage
She got us nearly front row seats
To the right side of the stage
See that tall girl?
That's a man
That one, too
Big yellow feather fan
Barkers barking
Step right up, folks!
The show is about to begin
It's Harlem in Havana time
Step right in!
Silver spangles
See 'em dangle in the farm boy's eyes
Hootchie kootchie
Auntie Ruthie would've died
Write me a royal-blue parchment poem
Draw me a royal-blue lady like me
Draw me a smile
That's a lot like my own
And make my eyes flowers
And make my mind see
I will weave melodies only for you
And color them silver and saffron and blue
Build me a window to watch everything
Leave it unshuttered so nothing slips by
No season, no sorrow, no wonderful thing
No raspberry, strawberry sun in the sky
I will bring music and marsipan bars
And live deep inside you
Wherever you are
Teach me the ways of the Gemini twin
Show me the love that he says without words
Bring me his laughter again and again
The silence is singing, the quiet is heard
I will find harmonies waiting unsung
With two souls to sing them
Where once there was one
Old Beale Street is coming down
Sweeties' Snack Bar, boarded up now
And Egles The Tailor and the Shine Boy's gone
Faded out with ragtime blues
Handy's cast in bronze
And he's standing in a little park
With a trumpet in his hand
Like he's listening back to the good old bands
And the click of high heeled shoes
Old Furry sings the blues
Propped up in his bed
With his dentures and his leg removed
And Ginny's there
For her kindness and Furry's beer
She's the old man's angel overseer
Pawn shops glitter like gold tooth caps
In the grey decay
They chew the last few dollars off
Old Beale Street's carcass
Carrion and mercy
Blue and silver sparkling drums
Cheap guitars, eye shades and guns
Aimed at the hot blood of being no one
Down and out in Memphis Tennessee
Old Furry sings the blues
You bring him smoke and drink and he'll play for you
lt's mostly muttering now and sideshow spiel
But there was one song he played
I could really feel
There's a double bill murder at the New Daisy
The old girl's silent across the street
She's silent - waiting for the wrecker's beat
Silent - staring ar her stolen name
Diamond boys and satin dolls
Bourbon laughter- ghosts - history falls
To parking lots and shopping malls
As they tear down old Beale Street
Old Furry sings the blues
He points a bony finger at you and
"I don't like you"
Everybody laughs as if it's the old man's standard joke
But it's true
We're only welcome for our drink and smoke
W.C. Handy I'm rich and I'm fay
And I'm not familiar with what you played
But I get such strong impressions of your hey day
Looking up and down old Beale Street
Ghosts of the darktown society
Come right out of the bricks at me
Like it's a Saturday night
They're in their finery
Dancing it up and making deals
Furry sings the blues
Why should I expect that old guy to give it to me true
Fallen to hard luck
And time and other thieves
While our limo is shining on his shanty street
He is three
One's in the middle unmoved
Waiting
To show what he sees
To the other two
To the one attacking--so afraid
And the one that keeps trying to love and trust
And getting himself betrayed
In the plan--oh
The divine plan
God must be a boogie man!
One's so sweet
So overly loving and gentle
He lets people in
To his innermost sacred temple
Blind faith to care
Blind rage to kill
Why'd he let them talk him down
To cheap work and cheap thrills
In the plan--oh
The insulting plan
God must be a boogie man!
Which would it be
Mingus one or two or three
Which one do you think he'd want the world to see
Well, world opinion's not a lot of help
When a man's only trying to find out
How to feel about himself!
In the plan-oh
The cock-eyed plan
"The way I see it," he said
"You just can't win it...
Everybody's in it for their own gain
You can't please 'em all
There's always somebody calling you down
I do my best
And I do good business
There's a lot of people asking for my time
They're trying to get ahead
They're trying to be a good friend of mine
I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
There was nobody calling me up for favors
And no one's future to decide
You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on
Stoking the star maker machinery
Behind the popular song
I deal in dreamers
And telephone screamers
Lately I wonder what I do it for
If l had my way
I'd just walk through those doors
And wander
Down the Champs Elysees
Going cafe to cabaret
Thinking how I'll feel when I find
That very good friend of mine
I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
Nobody was calling me up for favors
No one's future to decide
You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on
Stoking the star maker machinery
I went so numb on Christmas day
I couldn't feel my hands or feet
I shouldn't have come
She made me pay
For gleaming with Donald down her street
She put blame on him
And shame on me
She made it all seem so tawdry and cheap
"Oh, let's be nice, Mama, open up your gifts
You know, happiness is the best facelift"
I mean, after all, she introduced us
Oh, but she regrets that now
Shacked up downtown
Making love without a license
Same old sacred cow
She said, "Did you come home to disgrace us?"
I said, "Why is this joy not allowed?
For God's sake, I'm middle-aged, Mama
And time moves swift
And you know happiness is the best facelift"
Oh, love takes so much courage
Love takes so much shit
He said "You've seen too many movies, Joni"
She said "Snap out of it!"
Oh, the cold winds blew at our room with a view
All helpful and hopeful and candlelit
We kissed the angels and the moon eclipsed
You know, Happiness is the best facelift
We pushed the bed up to the window
To see the Christmas lights
On the east bank across the steaming river
Between the bridges lit up Paris-like
This river has run through both our lives
Between these banks of our continuing delights
Bless us, don't let us lose the drift
I can't decide
I don't know
Which way to go?
The options multiply
The choices grow
Which way to go?
What should I buy?
What should I be?
Which way to go?
(Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief)
So much comes at you
Too much for me
Which way to go?
Elusive dreams and vague desires
Fanned to fiery needs by golden boys
In ad empires
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Fiction of the boob tube
Fiction of the papers
Fiction of the image and the image makers
Fiction of the magazines
Fiction of the movies
Fiction of the "Buy me," "Watch me," "Listen to me"
I can't decide
I'm so confused
Which way to go?
I'm being useful here
I'm being used
Which way to go?
Some line gets drawn
What line is this?
Which way to go?
Could be a threshold or a precipice
Which way to go?
Elusive dreams and vague desires
Fanned to fiery needs by sexy boys
In flaming T.V. fires
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Fiction of obedience
Fiction of rebellion
Fiction of the goody-goody and the hellion
Fiction of destroyers
Fiction of preservers
Fiction of peacemakers and shit disturbers
Fiction of the moralist
Fiction of the nihilist
Fiction of the innovator and the stylist
Fiction of the killjoy
Fiction of the charmer
Fiction of the clay feet and the shining armour
Fiction of the declaimers
Fiction of the rebukers
Fiction of the pro and the no nukers
Fiction of the gizmo
Fiction of the data
Fiction of the this is this and that is that -- Ahh!
I can't decide
I don't know
Which way to go?
The more you learn
The less you know
Which way to go?
Some follow blind
And never know
Which way to go?
To lead you need some place to go
Which way to go?
Elusive dreams and vague desires
Fanned to fiery needs by deadly deeds
In falling empires
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Fiction of the diplomat
Fiction of the critic
Fiction of the Pollyanna and the cynic
Fiction of the coward
Fiction of the hero
Fiction of the monuments reduced to zero ........
Hot winds and hunger cries--Ethiopia
Flies in your babies' eyes--Ethiopia
Walking sticks on burning plains
Betrayed by politics
Abandoned by the rains
On and on--the human need
On and on--the human greed profanes
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia
Your top soil flies away--Ethiopia
We pump ours full of poison spray--Ethiopia
Between the brown skies and sprinkling lawns
I hear the whine of chain saws
Hacking rain forests down
On and on--insanities
On and on--Short sighted greed abounds
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia
Little garden planet-oasis in space
Some hearts hurt--they can hardly stand it
Famine phantoms at the garden gates
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia
Every Sunday on T.V.--Ethiopia
You suffer with such dignity--Ethiopia
A T.V. star with a P.R. smile
Calls your baby "it" while strolling
Through your tragic trials
On and on--stupidity
On and on--the basic needs are defiled
Good air--good water--good earth
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia
Little garden planet--oasis in space
Some hearts hurt--they can hardly stand the waste
Ethiopia--Ethiopia--Ethiopia
Rain comes from the east one night
We watch it come
To hang like beaded curtains
Till the morning sun
Water dripping from our clothes
You with raindrops on your nose
Ask me sadly "Please don't go away now."
Till the rain is done, I say
"I'll stay now."
Rain outside but inside we don't mind at all
Shadows by the fire slowly climb and fall
Kisses fade and leave no trace
Whispers vanish into space
The dawn will send me on a chase to nowhere
Why cry as if I were the first to go there
And I know I shouldn't be here
Yes, I know I should go home
But that eastern rain drones in my brain
And I'm so all alone, so all alone
Morning comes up from the east
We watch it come
And far away now rolls the ancient rain god's drum
You with daybreak in your eyes
Afraid to speak for telling lies
I watch you search for some reply to lend me
But when the rain is done
There's no pretending
And I know I shouldn't be here
Yes, I know I should go home
But that eastern rain drones in my brain
And I'm so all alone, so all alone
Don't worry 'bout me
I'll get along
Forget about me
Just be happy my love
Let's say that our little show is over
And so the story ends
Why not call it a day the sensible way
And still be friends
Look out for yourself
That should be the rule
Give your heart and your love
To whomever you love
Darlin' don't be a fool
Why do we cling to this old faded thing
That used to be
So if you can forget
Then you don't worry 'bout me
Build your dreams
To the stars above
But when you need someone true to love
Don't go to strangers
Lover come to me
Play with fire
Get your fingers burned
But when there's no place left to turn
Don't go to strangers
Lover come to me
You give the call to follow your heart
You'll follow your heart, I know
I've been around
I'm an old hand
I'll understand if you have to go
So make your mark
For your friends to see
But when you need more than company
Don't go to strangers
Lover come to me
Don't go to strangers
Lover come to me
Dr. Junk the Dentist Man
Fills your teeth with what he can
Airplane wings and corset stays
And when he's done he'll let you pay
In paper clips or inner tubes
Or anything that's slightly used
He's not really crazy
Only nuts ... and bolts
And rusty rings make him do
The strangest things
Dr. Junk the Dentist has
An office full of colored glass
A garden with a paddle wheel
And funny plants for eye appeal
And though he watches them with care
I've never seen them growing there
He's not really crazy
Only nuts ... and bolts
And rusty rings make him do
Eccentric things
Dr. Junk the Dentist built
A junky castle up on stilts
Junk within and junk throughout
And TV in the chimney spout
And fourteen levels to each floor
And now he's adding fourteen more
He's not really crazy
Only nuts ... and bolts
And rusty rings make him do
The strangest things
Day after day
Miles and miles of railroad track
Night after night
Hummin' of the wheels
Their hummin' seems to say
He'll follow you someday
But someday seems a million miles away
Wish I could turn around
and run back home again
I've had no mercy
Since the blues got on this train
Day after day
Make a dollar, need it twice
Night after night
Lie awake and dream
Of days of auld lang syne
Moonlight through the pine
And linen table cloths all stained with wine
Wish I could turn around
And run back home again
I've been so empty
Since I caught that eastbound train
Day after day
Watch the hands move 'round the clock
Night after night
Searching for my soul
So this must be my fate
To sit and weep and wait
And pray my darlin' comes before too late
Wish I could turn around
And run back home again
I've been so lonely
Since I caught that eastbound train
Comes a rain storm
Put your rubbers on your feet
Comes a snow storm
You can get a little heat
Comes love
Nothing can be done
Comes a fire
Firemen come and rescue you*
Blow a tire
You can patch the inner tube
Comes love
Nothing can be done
Don't try hidin'
'Cause it isn't any use
You'll just start slidin'
When your heart turns on the juice
Comes a heat wave
You can hurry to the shore*
Come a summons
Hide yourself behind a door
Comes love
Nothing can be done
Comes a headache
You can lose it in a day
Comes a toothache
See your dentist right away
Comes love
Nothing can be done
Comes the measles
You can quarrantine the room
Comes a mousie
You can chase it with a broom
Comes love
Nothing can be done
That's all brother
If you've ever been in love
That's all brother
And you know just what I'm speakin' of
Comes a nightmare
You can always stay awake
Comes depression
You could get another break
Comes love
Nothing can be done
Nothing can be done
Come and take me by the hand
There's so much to be seen
The fields are dancing daisy bright
Hills are dappled green
Winter wind has ceased her labor
Giving birth to blossom rain as sweet as rain
And maybe you will fall in love
And maybe you'll be mine
Daisy summer pipers come to town
Piping people out of doors
To see the magic all around
Listen now you'll hear his sound
Stare into a mirror pool
And laugh so princely vain
The skies become kaleidoscopes
With no two turns the same
And pebbles send them dancing off
In ripple rings of sun burnt cloud and windy blues
And maybe we will fall in love
Before the day is through
Daisy summer pipers come to town
Piping people out of doors
To see the magic all around
Words and music by Bob Nolan
Revised lyrics by Joni Mitchell
All day I face the barren waste
Without a taste of water
Cool water
Old Dan and I
Our throats slate dry
Our spirits cry out for water
Cool clear water
Keep on movin' Dan
Some devils had a plan
Buried poison in the sand
Don't drink it man
It's in the water
Cool clear water
In my mind I see
A big green tree
And a river flowin' free
Waitin' up ahead
For you and me
Cool clear water
The nights are cool and I'm a fool
Each star is a pool of water
Cool water
But come the dawn
We carry on
We won't last long without water
Cool clear water
Keep on movin' Dan
We're still in no-man's land
Dry bones and sand
People never planned here for water
Cool clear water
In my mind I see
A big green tree
And a river flowin' free
Waiting up ahead for you and me
Cool clear water
The shadows sway
They seem to say
Tonight we pray for water
Cool water
And way up there
If you care
Please show us where
There's good water
Cool clear water
He comes for conversation
I comfort him sometimes
Comfort and consultation
He knows that's what he'll find
I bring him apples and cheeses
He brings me songs to play
He sees me when he pleases
I see him in cafes
And I only say, hello
And turn away before his lady knows
How much I want to see him
She removes him, like a ring
To wash her hands
She only brings him out to show her friends
I want to free him
Secrets and sharing soda
That's how our time began
Love is a story told to a friend
It's second hand
But I'll listen to his questions
I'll give my answers when they're found
He says she keeps him guessing
But I know she keeps him down
She speaks in sorry sentences
Miraculous repentances
I don't believe her
Tomorrow he will come to me
And he'll speak his sorrow endlessly
And he'll ask me why
Why can't I leave her?
He comes for conversation
I comfort him sometimes
Comfort and consultation
He knows that's what he'll find
Now comes the morning
Wet with the kiss of midnight
Shadows stayed sulking in the way
Sunshine for dreaming
Blackest magic to believe in
Spectrums and rainbows and days
I never saw a sky so free
Never so blue
Morning with mystic pagaentry
Unveils a time for sharing love with you
Come to the sunshine
Share in the quiet of knowing
No need for telling you sometimes
When all the answers are
So plainly showing
Teach me to tell you
All the feelings I've been learning
Tell me to teach you my heart
New words are crazy
Old love words keep returning
All words seem wrong from the start
So I will tell with my eyes
Say it with a kiss
Silence that asks and looks so wise
And needs no answer on a day like this
Come to the sunshine
Share in the quiet of knowing
No need for telling you sometimes
When all the answers are
Yesterday, a child came out to wander
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
And the seasons they go 'round and 'round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Then, the child moved ten times 'round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like, "When you're older", must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams
Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels through the town
And they tell him, "Take your time. It won't be long now.
'Til you drag your feet to slow the circles down"
And the seasons they go 'round and 'round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through.
And the seasons they go 'round and 'round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return, we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and 'round and 'round
In the circle game
I've been sitting up waiting for my sugar to show
I've been listening to the sirens and the radio
He said he'd be over three hours ago
I've been waiting for his car on the hill
He makes friends easy
He's not like me
I watch for judgement anxiously
Now where in the city can that boy be
Waiting for a car
Climbing
Climbing
Climbing the hill
He's a real good talker--I think he's friend
Fast tires come screaming around the bend
But there's still no buzzer
They roll on...
And-I'm waiting for his car on the hill
It always seems so righteous at the start
When there's so much laughter
When there's so much spark
When there's so much sweetness in the dark
Waiting for a car
Climbing
Climbing
Cherokee Louise is hiding in this tunnel
In the Broadway bridge
We're crawling on our knees
We've got flashlights and batteries
We've got cold cuts from the fridge
Last year about this time
We used to climb up in the branches
Just to sway there in some breeze
Now the cops on the street
They want Cherokee Louise
People like to talk
Tongues are waggin' over fences
Waggin' over phones
All their doors are locked
God she can't even come to our house
But I know where she'll go
To the place where you can stand
And press your hands like it was bubblebath
In dust piled high as me
Down under the street
My friend
Poor Cherokee Louise
Ever since we turned 13
It's like a minefield
Walking to the door
Going out you get the 3rd degree
And comin' in you get the 3rd world war
Tuesday after school
We put our pennies on the rails
And when the train went by
We were jumpin' round like fools
Goin' "Look no heads or tails"
Goin' "Look my lucky prize"
She runs home to her foster dad
He opens up a zipper
And he yanks her to her knees
Oh please be here-please
My friend
Poor Cherokee Louise
Cherokee Louise is hiding in this tunnel
In the Broadway bridge
We're crawling on our knees
We've got Archie and Silver Screen
I know where she is
The place where you can stand
And press your hand like it was bubblebath
In dust piled high as me
Down under the street
My friend
Poor Cherokee Louise
Oh Cherokee Louise
Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and the first thing that I heard
Was a song outside my window, and the traffic wrote the words
It came a-reeling up like Christmas bells, and rapping up like pipes and drums
Oh, won't you stay
We'll put on the day
And we'll wear it 'till the night comes
Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and the first thing that I saw
Was the sun through yellow curtains, and a rainbow on the wall
Blue, red, green and gold to welcome you, crimson crystal beads to beckon
Oh, won't you stay
We'll put on the day
There's a sun show every second
Now the curtain opens on a portrait of today
And the streets are paved with passersby
And pigeons fly
And papers lie
Waiting to blow away
Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and the first thing that I knew
There was milk and toast and honey and a bowl of oranges, too
And the sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my senses
Oh, won't you stay
We'll put on the day
And we'll talk in present tenses
When the curtain closes and the rainbow runs away
I will bring you incense owls by night
By candlelight
By jewel-light
If only you will stay
Pretty baby, won't you
Twinkle, twinkle what a pity
All alone on such a pretty night
With enchantment on your side.
Popcorn, popcorn, cotton candy,
Soft voice whispers,
"This can all be right
If you'll come and share a ride."
Carnival in Kenora!
I let him take me for a ride
On a giant ferris wheel.
Up in the neon sky
Or far from the barker's cry
One kiss can sometimes
Make you feel like a
Spinning Ferris wheel.
All the tents are taken down now;
All that's left is scuffled ground now;
Still the magic echoes in the sand.
Popcorn, popcorn, cotton candy,
Now a stranger takes my hand,
We smile and the magic understands.
Carnival in Kenora!
I let him take me for a ride
On a giant Ferris wheel.
Up in the neon sky
Or far from the barker's cry
One kiss can sometimes
Make you feel like a
Eyes that send me
Chasing after feelings that I lost one day
Why befriend me, when the brandy tells me
What they want to say
Playing big protector is a grand disguise
Till you contradict yourself with brandy eyes.
No beginning, still no end to let me shrug and walk away
Silly grinning, teasing talking promise of a kiss someday
I would put you out of mind if I were wise
But wisdom has no power over brandy eyes.
Maybe I'm wrong
If I am please pardon me and pat my head
Sing an old song, sing of one more foolish heart
That's been mislead
Take the points for winning and donate the prize
And keep right on a-scoring with those brandy eyes
ROWS and ***Flows*** of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all
Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all
Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way
Oh but now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they tell me that I've changed
Well something's lost but something's gained
In living every day
I've looked at life from both sides now
From WIN and LOSE and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all
I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
Everybody looks so ill at ease
So distrustful so displeased
Running down the table
I see a borderline
Like a barbed wire fence
Strung tight, strung tense
Prickling with pretense
A borderline
Why are you smirking at your friend?
Is this to be the night when
All well-wishing ends?
All credibility revoked?
Thin skin, thick jokes!
Can we blame it on the smoke
This borderline?
Every bristling shaft of pride
Church or nation
Team or tribe
Every notion we subscribe to
Is just a borderline
Good or bad, we think we know
As if thinking makes things so!
All convictions grow along a borderline
Smug in your jaded expertise
You scathe the wonder world
And you praise barbarity
In this illusionary place--
This scared hard-edged rat race
All liberty is laced with
Borderlines
Every income, every age
Every fashion-plated rage
Every measure, every gauge
Creates a borderline
Every stone thrown through glass
Every mean-streets-kick ass
Every swan caught on the grass
Will draw a borderline
You snipe so steady
You snub so snide--
So ripe and ready
To diminish and deride!
You're so quick to condescend
My opinionated friend
All you deface, all you defend
Is just a borderline
Just a borderline ...
Another borderline ...
Blue on blue
Sky's in your eyes
Steer you away like I wasn't here
Where do you go when you fantasize
That you wish I'd disappear
Leave you to dreaming and leave you alone
Lost in a world that's all your own
Can I come, too
Blue on blue
Dreams like you are making now
Are very hard to share
All I ask is one small favor
Dream a dream and wish me there
Gold on gold, sun in your hair
Spinning the rainbow, weaving the wind
Bluing the dye for the midnight air
Counting the gold at the rainbows end
Rapier princess whispers your name
Out of the time before I came
I'll never know
Gold on gold
Dreams like you are making now
Are very hard to share
All I ask is one small favor
Dream a dream and wish me there
Blue, songs are like tattoos
You know Ive been to sea betore
Crown and anchor me
Or let me sail away
Hey blue, here is a song for you
Ink on a pin
Underneath the skin
An empty space to fill in
Well therere so many sinking now
Youve got to keep thinking
You can make it thru these waves
Acid, booze, and ass
Needles, guns, and grass
Lots of laughs, lots of laughs
Everybodys saying that hells the hippest way to go
Well I dont think so
But Im gonna take a look around it though
Blue, I love you
Blue, here is a shell for you
Inside youll hear a sigh
A foggy lullaby
They paved paradise put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot
Chorus:
Don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.
The paved paradise put up a parking lot
They took all the trees, put 'em in a tree museum,
And they charge the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em
Chorus
Hey farmer farmer, put away the DDT now
Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees
Please
Chorus
Late last night, I heard the screen door slam,
And a big yellow taxi took away my old man.
Chorus x 2
The paved paradise put up a parking lot x 2
Lady called the blue boy, love,
She took him home
Made himself an idol, yes,
So he turned to stone
Like a pilgrim she travelled
Ta place her flowers
Before his granite grace
And she prayed aloud for love
To waken in his face
In his face, oh __________
Sometimes in the evening
He would read to her
Roll her in his arms
And give his seed to her
She would wake in the morning
Without him
And go to the window
And look out thru the pain
But the statue in her garden
He always looked the same
He looked the same, ah _________
Bring her boots of leather
She will dance for him
Shyly from a feather fan
She'll glance for him
Here he comes after midnight
To find her again
He will come a few times more
Till he finds a lady statue
Standing in a door
There's a crow flying
Black and ragged
Tree to tree
He's black as the highway that's leading me
Now he's diving down
To pick up on something shiny
I feel like that black crow
Flying
In a blue sky
I took a ferry to the highway
Then I drove to a pontoon plane
I took a plane to a taxi
And a taxi to a train
I've been traveling so long
How'm I ever going to know my home
When I see it again
I'm like a black crow flying
In a blue, blue sky
In search of love and music
My whole life has been
Illumination
Corruption
And diving, diving, diving, diving.
Diving down to pick up on every shiny thing
Just like that black crow flying
In a blue sky
I looked at the morning
After being up all night
I looked at my haggard face in the bathroom light
I looked out the window
And I saw that ragged soul take flight
I saw a back crow flying
In a blue sky
Oh I'm like a black crow flying
The blonde in the bleachers
She flips her hair for you
Above the loudspeakers
You start to fall
She follows you home
But you miss living alone
You can still hear sweet mysteries
Calling you
The bands and the roadies
Lovin' 'em and leavin' 'em
It's pleasure to try 'em
It's trouble to keep 'em
'Cause it seems like you've got to give up
Such a piece of your soul
When you give up the chase
Feeling it hot and cold
You're in Rock'n'Roll
It's the nature of the race
It's the unknown child
So sweet and wild
It's youth
It's too good to waste
She tapes her regrets
To the microphone stand
She says "You can't hold the hand
Of a Rock'n'Roll man
Very long
Or count on your plans
With a Rock'n'Roll man
Very long
Compete with the fans
For your Rock'n'Roll man
For very long
The girls and the bands
Down in the garden
Under a leaf, she was smoking her keef
And she was looking at stardom
Everything's bright as she draws on the pipe
And the bowl glows redder
And things look better
Mars is a ruby
Saturn is sapphire, it burns with a blue fire
Colors run through me
Loosen my thinking, they're flashing and blinking
And always changing, rearranging
Ballerina, Valerie now
Move me through your crimson dances
Terragan, a red bandana
Bring me down your silver trances
Down in the garden
Under an oak, he was drinking his Coke
And he was looking at stardom
Everything's bright as he draws on the pipe
And the bowl glows redder
And things go better with Coca-Cola
At last, my love has come along
my lonely days are over, and life is like a song
At last,the skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped in clover
The night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I could call my own
I found a thrill to press my cheek to
A thrill I'd never known
You smiled, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in Heaven, for you are mine at last.
I found a dream that I could speak to,
A dream that I could call my own
I found a thrill to press my cheek to
A thrill that I had never known
You smiled, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in Heaven
For you are mine at last.
Answer me
Oh my love
Just what sin have I been guilty of
Tell me how I came to lose your love
Please answer me sweetheart
You were mine yesterday
I believed that love was here to stay
Won't you tell me how I've gone astray
Please answer me my love
If you're happier without me
I'll try not to care
But if you still think about me
Please listen to my prayer
You must know that I've been true
Won't you say that we can start anew
In my sorrow now I turn to you
Please answer me my love
If you're happier without me
I'll try not to care
But if you still think about me
Please listen to my prayer
You must know that I've been true
Won't you say that we can start anew
In my sorrow now I turn to you
Please answer me my love
Answer me my love
Three waitresses all wearing
Black diamond earrings
Talking about zombies
And Singapore slings
No trouble in their faces
Not one anxious voice
None of the crazy you get
From too much choice
The thumb and the satchel
Or the rented Rolls-Royce
And you think she knows something
By the second refill
You think she's enlightened
As she totals your bill
You say "Show me the way
To Barangrill"
Well some say it's in service
They say "Humble Makes Pure"
You're hoping it's near Folly
'Cause you're headed that way for sure
And you just have to laugh
'Cause it's all so crazy
Ah, her mind's on her boyfriend
And eggs over easy
It's just a trick on you
Her mirrors and your will
So you ask the truck driver
On the way to the till
But he's just a slave
To Barangrill
The guy at the gaspumps
He's got a lot of soul
He sings Merry Christmas for you
Just like Nat King Cole
And he makes up his own tune
Right on the spot
About whitewalls and windshields
And this job he's got
And you want to get moving
And you want to stay still
But lost in the moment
Some longing gets filled
And you even forget to ask
Come to the dinner gong
The table is laden high
Fat bellies and hungry little ones
Tuck your napkins in
And take your share
Some get the gravy
And some get the gristle
Some get the marrow bone
And some get nothing
Though there's plenty to spare
I took my share down by the sea
Paper plates and Javex bottles on the tide
Seagulls come down
And they squawk at me
Down where the water-skiers glide
Some turn to Jesus
And some turn to heroin
Some turn to rambling round
Looking for a clean sky
And a drinking stream
Some watch the paint peel off
Some watch their kids grow up
Some watch their stocks and bonds
Waiting for that big deal
American Dream
I took my dream down by the sea
Yankee yachts and lobster pots and sunshine
And logs and sails
And Shell Oil pails
Dogs and tugs and summertime
Back in the banquet line
Angry young people crying
Who let the greedy in
And who left the needy out
Who made this salty soup
Tell him we're very hungry now
For a sweeter fare
In the cookie I read
"Some get the gravy
And some get the gristle
Some get the marrow bone
And some get nothing
Can you still remember how it all began?
With clipper ships and pink electric trees,
Dawnlight on a skyline bridges' span,
Street light on a rooftop memory.
Then it was me and spring came,
Playing a song of spring rain,
A melody in your name.
Night now comes much bluer than it used to be.
The pink nun sings much sadder than before.
She sings that sometimes things aren't what they
Seem to be, like moons reflected on the sixteenth floor.
Love is no more, it's ended.
Paper and pins won't mend it;
Even the moon pretended.
There must be a reason, oh, there must be one.
Keep your answers, let me find my own.
Where do pretty stories get their endings from
If loving always leaves you all alone?
Kisses have shown me sorrow;
Love is a throne to borrow;
Just before our love got lost you said
"I am as constant as a northern star"
And I said "Constantly in the darkness
Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar"
On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
With your face sketched on it twice
Oh you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet
oh I would still be on my feet
Oh I am a lonely painter
I live in a box of paints
I'm frightened by the devil
And I'm drawn to those ones that ain't afraid
I remember that time you told me you said
"Love is touching souls"
Surely you touched mine
'Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time
Oh, you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you darling
And I would still be on my feet
I would still be on my feet
I met a woman
She had a mouth like yours
She knew your life
She knew your devils and your deeds
And she said
"Go to him, stay with him if you can
But be prepared to bleed"
Oh but you are in my blood
You're my holy wine
You're so bitter, bitter and so sweet
Oh, I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet
I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Traveling, traveling, traveling
Looking for something, what can it be
Oh I hate you some, I hate you some
I love you some
Oh I love you when I forget about me
I want to be strong I want to laugh along
I want to belong to the living
Alive, alive, I want to get up and jive
I want to wreck my stockings in some juke box dive
Do you want - do you want - do you want
To dance with me baby
Do you want to take a chance
On maybe finding some sweet romance with me baby
Well, come on
All I really really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you too
All I really really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you
I want to talk to you, I want to shampoo you
I want to renew you again and again
Applause, applause - life is our cause
When I think of your kisses
My mind see-saws
Do you see - do you see - do you see
How you hurt me baby
So I hurt you too
Then we both get so blue
I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Looking for the key to set me free
Oh the jealousy, the greed is the unraveling
It's the unraveling
And it undoes all the joy that could be
I want to have fun, I want to shine like the sun
I want to be the one that you want to see
I want to knit you a sweater
Want to write you a love letter
I want to make you feel better
I want to make you feel free
Hmm, Hmm, Hmm, Hmm,
Want to make you feel free
(Arrangement of the traditional work "Corrina, Corrina")
I took a house by the water
Took a man on a mountainside
Pretty house by the water
Lovely lover by the waterside
Last time I saw that man
He hung down his head and cried
Corrina, Corrina
Do you have to go
Corrina, Corrina
Tell me why do you have to go
Just made me come to love you girl
Now you pack your things and go
Leave me this bird that whistles
Leave me this bird that sings
I got a bird that whistles
I got a bird that's singin'
If I don't have you darlin'
Birds don't mean nothin'
See the stretching sun at dawning
Wipe the stardust from his eyes
Feel the morning breezes yawning
Telling me it's time to rise
Telling me it's time to rise
I was born to take the highway
I was born to chase a dream
Any road at all is my way
Any place is where I've been
Anything is what I've seen
Gambler's gold is made for squandering
Miser's silver is to hoard
My gold as the sky goes wandering
My silver is the drinking goard
My silver is the drinking goard
I was born to take the highway
I was born to chase a dream
Any road at all is my way
Any place is where I've been
Anything is what I've seen
I've skipped on concrete
Danced on cobbles
Stepped on pavement in the heat
I've seen where children crouched at marbles
Made chalk circles in the street
Found a penny at my feet
Found a penny at my feet
I was born to take the highway
I was born to chase a dream
Any road at all is my way
Any place is where I've been
Anything is what I've seen
Now I know a road that winds forever
Through the land the rainbows run
You cross the bridge from now till never
Take the first turn past the sun
Take the first turn beyond the sun
I was born to take the highway
I was born to chase a dream
Any road at all is my way
Any place is where I've been
Anything is what I've seen
Through the windless wells of wonder
By the throbbing light machine
In a tea leaf trance or under
Orders from the king and queen
Songs to aging children come
Aging children, I am one
People hurry by so quickly
Don't they hear the melodies
In the chiming and the clicking
And the laughing harmonies
Songs to aging children come
Aging children, I am one
Some come dark and strange like dying
Crows and ravens whistling
Lines of weeping, strings of crying
So much said in listening
Songs to aging children come
Aging children, I am one
Does the moon play only silver
When it strums the galaxy
Dying roses will they will their
Perfumed rhapsodies to me
Songs to aging children came
If you're driving into town
With a dark cloud above you
Dial in the number
Who's bound to love you
Oh honey you turn me on
I'm a radio
I'm a country station
I'm a little bit corny
I'm a wildwood flower
Waving for you
Broadcasting tower
Waving for you
And I'm sending you out
This signal here
I hope you can pick it up
Loud and clear
I know you don't like weak women
You get bored so quick
And you don't like strong women
'Cause they're hip to your tricks
It's been dirty for dirty
Down the line
But you know
I come when you whistle
When you're loving and kind
But if you've got too many doubts
If there's no good reception for me
Then tune me out, 'cause honey
Who needs the static
It hurts the head
And you wind up cracking
And the day goes dismal
From "Breakfast Barney"
To the sign-off prayer
What a sorry face you get to wear
I'm going to tell you again now
If you're still listening there
If you're driving into town
With a dark cloud above you
Dial in the number
Who's bound to love you
If you're lying on the beach
With the transistor going
Kick off the sand cause honey
The love's still flowing
If your head says forget it
But your heart's still smoking
Call me at the station
I came upon a child of God
He was walkin' along the road
And I asked him, I said "Where're you going?"
This he told me
He said I'm goin' down to Yasgur's farm
I'm gonna join in a Rock 'n' Roll band
I'm gonna camp up on a land
I'm gonna try and get my soul free, yea
We are stardust
We are golden
And we got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
Well and can I walk beside you?
I've come here to lose the smog
And I feel as if I'm a cog
In somethin' turnin' round and round and round, hmm
Maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it's the time of man
I don't know, who I am
But you know, life is for learnin'
We are stardust
We are golden
And we got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
By the time when we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere you looked
There was a song and a celebration
Everybody was singin' and dancin' and sharin' and havin' fun
And I dreamed and I saw the bombers
They're ridin' shotgun in the sky
And they were turnin' into butterflies
Above our nation
We are stardust, we are a billion year old carbon
We are golden, caught up in the Devil's bargain
And we got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
We've got to get ourselves
"Twisted" lyrics - Joni Mitchell
By Ross and Grey
My analyst told me
That I was right out of my head
The way he described it
He said I'd be better dead than live
I didn't listen to his jive
I knew all along
That he was all wrong
And I knew that he thought
I was crazy but I'm not
Oh no
My analyst told me
That I was right out of my head
He said I'd need treatment
But I'm not that easily led
He said I was the type
That was most inclined
When out of his sight
To be out of my mind
And he thought I was nuts
No more ifs or ands or buts
They say as a child
I appeared a little bit wild
With all my crazy ideas
But I knew what was happening
I knew I was a genius...
What's so strange when you know
That you're a wizard at three
I knew that this was meant to be
Now I heard little children
Were supposed to sleep tight
That's why I got into the vodka one night
My parents got frantic
Didn't know what to do
But I saw some crazy scenes
Before I came to
Now do you think I was crazy
I may have been only three
But I was swinging
They all laugh at angry young men
They all laugh at Edison
And also at Einstein
So why should I feel sorry
If they just couldn't understand
The idiomatic logic
That went on in my head
I had a brain
It was insane
Oh they used to laugh at me
When I refused to ride
On all those double-decker buses
All because there was no driver on the top
My analyst told me
That I was right out of my head
But I said dear doctor
I think that it's you instead
Because I have got a thing
That's unique and new
To prove it I'll have
The last laugh on you
'Cause instead of one head
I got two
And you know two heads are better than one
Up in a sterilized room
Where they let you be lazy
Knowing your attitude's all wrong
And you got to change
And that's not easy
Dragon shining with all values known
Dazzling you-keeping you from your own
Where is the lion in you to defy him
When you're this weak
And this spacey...
So what are you going to do about it
You can't live life and you can't leave it
Advice and religion-you can't take it
You can't seem to believe it
The peacock is afraid to parade
You're under the thumb of the maid
You really can't give love in this condition
Still you know how you need it
They open and close you
Then they talk like they know you
They don't know you
They're friends and they're foes too
Trouble child
Breaking like the waves at Malibu
So why does it come as such a shock
To know you really have no one
Only a river of changing faces
Looking for an ocean
They trickle through your leaky plans
Another dream over the dam
And you're lying in some room
Feeling like your right to be human
Is going over too
Well some are going to knock you
And some'll try to clock you
You know it's really hard
To talk sense to you
Trouble child
Look out the left the captain said
The lights down there, that's where we'll land
I saw a falling star burn up
Above the Las Vegas sands
It wasn't the one that you gave to me
That night down south between the trailers
Not the early one
That you can wish upon;
Not the northern one
That guides in the sailors
Oh starbright, starbright
You've got the lovin' that I like, all right
Turn this crazy bird around
I shouldn't have got on this flight tonight
You got the touch so gentle and sweet
But you've got that look so critical
Now I can't talk to you baby
I get so weak
Sometimes I think love is just mythical
Up there's a heaven
Down there's a town
Blackness everywhere and little lights shine
Oh, blackness, blackness dragging me down
Come on light the candle in this poor heart of mine
Oh starbright, starbright
You've got the lovin' that I like, all right
Turn this crazy bird around
I shouldn't hove got on this flight tonight
I'm drinking sweet champagne
Got the headphones up high
Can't numb you out
Can't drum you out of my mind
They're playing "Goodbye baby, Baby Goodbye,
Ooh, ooh, love is blind"
Up go the flaps, down go the wheels
I hope you got your heat turned on baby
I hope they finally fixed your automobile
I hope it's better when we meet again baby
Starbright, starbright
You got the lovin' that I like, all right
Turn this crazy bird around
The priest sat in the airport bar
He was wearing his father's tie
And his eyes looked into my eyes so far
Whenever the words ran dry
Behind the lash and the circles blue
He looked as only a priest can, thru
And his eyes said me and his eyes said you
And my eyes said, let us try
He said, "You wouldn't like it here
No it's no place you should share
The roof is ripped with hurricanes
And the room is always bare
I need the wind and I seek the cold"
He reached post the wine for my hand to hold
And he saw me young and he saw me old
And he saw me sitting there
Then he took his contradictions out
And he splashed them on my brow
So which words was I then to doubt
When choosing what to vow
Should I choose them all-should I make them mine
The sermons, the hymns and the valentines
And he asked for truth and he asked for time
And he asked for only now
Now the trials are trumpet scored
Oh will we pass the test
Or just as one loves more and more
Will one love less and less
Oh come let's run from this ring we're in
Where the Christians clap and the Germans grin
Saying let them lose, crying let them win
Rousseau walks on trumpet paths
Safaris to the heart of all that jazz
Through I bars and girders-through wires and pipes
The mathematic circuits of the modern nights
Through huts, through Harlem, through jails and gospel pews
Through the class on Park and the trash on Vine
Through Europe and the deep deep heart of Dixie blue
Through savage progress cuts the jungle line
In a low-cut blouse she brings the beer
Rousseau paints a jungle flower behind her ear
Those cannibals-of shuck and jive
They'll eat a working girl like her alive
With his hard-edged eye and his steady hand
He paints the cellar full of ferns and orchid vines
And he hangs a moon above a five-piece band
He hangs it up above the jungle line
The jungle line, the jungle line
Screaming in a ritual of sound and time
Floating, drifting on the air-conditioned wind
And drooling for a taste of something smuggled in
Pretty women funneled through valves and smoke
Coy and bitchy, wild and fine
And charging elephants and chanting slaving boats
Charging, chanting down the jungle line
There's a poppy wreath on a soldier's tomb
There's a poppy snake in a dressing room
Poppy poison-poppy tourniquet
It slithers away on brass like mouthpiece spit
And metal skin and ivory birds
Go steaming up to Rousseau's vines
They go steaming up to Brooklyn Bridge
I remember Monday rising up to pack his lunch
We kissed goodbye saying
What a foolish girl was I
Saying, what a fool was she
Near the store where I go shopping
On display there was a golden watch chain
All that week it had me stopping
What a fool was she.
Almost Christmas, we were so poor
Where there was will
There were ways
I was sure
In the paper written plain
I saw an ad, I caught a train
And sold my hair to buy the chain
What a fool was she
(and he says:)
I remember Monday rising with her hair
reflected in my eyes
It caught the sun a million times
What a fool was he
In a window near the office was a comb
of pearls and beads and tortoise
Oh, the devil'd come to court us
What a fool was he
Almost Christmas, we were so poor
Where there was will
There were ways
I was sure
In the pawnshop coming home
I stopped inquiring for a loan
And sold the watch to buy the comb
What a fool was he
Christmas came up cold and glum
There were no visions of sugar plums
There were no joyous carols sung
Oh, what fools were they
He sat glaring at her bob
As she lay weeping by a chain and fob
And sadly burned the yule log
And wise men lost their way
Wisemen lose their way
Down in the cellar in the Boho zone
I went looking for some sweet inspiration, oh well
Just another hard-time band
With Negro affectations
I was a hopeful in rooms like this
When I was working cheap
It's an old romance-the Boho dance
It hasn't gone to sleep
But even on the scuffle
The cleaner's press was in my jeans
And any eye for detail
Caught a little lace along the seams
And you were in the parking lot
Subterranean by your own design
The virtue of your style inscribed
On your contempt for mine
Jesus was a beggar, he was rich in grace
And Solomon kept his head in all his glory
It's just that some steps outside the Boho dance
Have a fascination for me
A camera pans the cocktail hour
Behind a blind of potted palms
And finds a lady in a Paris dress
With runs in her nylons
You read those books where luxury
Comes as a guest to take a slave
Books where artists in noble poverty
Go like virgins to the grave
Don't you get sensitive on me
'Cause I know you're just too proud
You couldn't step outside the Boho dance now
Even if good fortune allowed
Like a priest with a pornographic watch
Looking and longing on the sly
Sure it's stricken from your uniform
But you can't get it out of your eyes
Nothing is capsulized in me
On either side of town
The streets were never really mine
I stepped outside to breathe the air
And stare up at the stars
Big dipper hanging there
Over the rented car
Over the rented car
I'm a runaway from the record biz
From the hoods in the hood and the whiny white kids
Boring!
The old man is snoring
And I'm taming the tiger
(You can't tame the tiger)
Tiger, tiger burning bright
Nice, kitty kitty
Tiger, tiger burning bright
Sophia says "It's hard to catch
And harder still to ride
The time to watch the beast the best
Is when it's purring at your side"
Purring at your side
Accolades and honors
One false move and you're a goner
Boring!
The old man is snoring
And I'm taming the tiger
(You can't tame the tiger)
Tiger, tiger burning bright
Nice, kitty kitty
Tiger, tiger burning bright
In the forest of the night
The moon shed light
On my hopeless plight
As the radio blared so bland
Every disc, a poker chip
Every song just a one night stand
Formula music, girly guile
Genuine junkfood for juveniles
Up and down the dial
Mercenary style
I watched the stars chuck down their spears
And a plane went blinking by
And I thought of Anna
Wild and dear
Like fireworks in the sky
Fireworks in the sky
I'm so sick of this game
It's hip, it's hot
Life's too short, the whole thing's gotten
Boring!
The old man is snoring
And I'm taming the tiger
(You can't tame the tiger)
Tiger, tiger burning bright
Nice, kitty kitty
(Boring!)
Tiger, tiger burning bright
(You can't tame the tiger)
Oh, be nice, kitty kitty
(Boring!)
Tiger, tiger burning bright
Nice, kitty kitty
(Boring, boring!)
Tiger, tiger burning bright
(Fight to the light, fight to the light)
There was a moon and a street lamp
I didn't know I drank such a lot
'Till I pissed a tequila-anaconda
The full length of the parking lot!
Oh, I talk too loose
Again I talk too open and free
I pay a high price for my open talking
Like you do for your silent mystery
Come and talk to me
Please talk to me
Talk to me, talk to me
Mr. Mystery
We could talk about Martha
We could talk about landscapes
I'm not above gossip
But I'll sit on a secret where honor is at stake!
Or we could talk about power
About Jesus and Hitler and Howard Hughes
Or Charlie Chaplin's movies
Or Bergman's nordic blues
Please just talk to me
Any old theme you choose
Just come and talk to me
Mr. Mystery, talk to me
You could talk like a fool-I'd listen
You could talk like a sage
Anyway the best of my mind
All goes down on the strings and the page
That mind picks up all these pictures
It still gets my feet up to dance
Even though it's covered with keyloids
From the "slings and arrows of outrageous romance"
I stole that from Willy the Shake!
You know--"Neither a borrower nor a lender be"
Romeo, Romeo talk to me!
Is your silence that golden?
Are you comfortable in it?
Is it the key to your freedom
Or is it the bars on your prison?
Are you gagged by your ribbons?
Are you really exclusive or just miserly?
You spend every sentence as if it was marked currency!
Come and spend some on me--
Shut me up and talk to me!
I'm always talking!
Chicken squawking!
This is really something
People will be envious
But our roles aren't clear
So we musn't rush
Still, we're burning brightly
Clinging like fire to fuel
I'm grinning like a fool
Stay in touch
We should stay in touch
Oh! Stay in touch
In touch
Part of this is permanent
Part of this is passing
So we must be loyal and wary
Not to give away too much
Til we build a firm foundation
And empty out old habits
Old habits
Stay in touch
We should stay in touch
Oh! Stay in touch
In touch
During times like these
The wise or influential
They can bear the imperfections
They can keep the money
No doubt about it
No doubt that's essential
No doubt that's always been a tricky one for me
So, we should just surrender
Let fate and duty shape us
Let light hearts remake us
Let the worries hush
In the middle of this continent
In the middle of our time on Earth
We perceive one another
Stay in touch
We should stay in touch
Oh! Stay in touch
I think of tears, I think of rain on shingles
I think of rain, I think of roses blue
I think of Rose, my heart begins to tremble
To see the place she's lately gotten to
Gotten to, gotten to
She's gotten to mysterious devotions
She's gotten to the zodiac and Zen
She's gotten into tarot cards and potions
She's laying her religion on her friends
On her friends, on her friends
Friends who come to ask her for their future
Friends who come to find they can't be friends
Because of signs and seasons that don't suit her
She'll prophesy your death, she won't say when
Won't say when, won't say when
When all the black cards come you cannot barter
No, when all your stars are stacked you cannot win
She'll shake her head and treat you like a martyr
It is her blackest spell she puts you in
Puts you in, puts you in
In sorrow she can lure you where she wants you
Inside your own self-pity there you swim
In sinking down to drown her voice still haunts you
And only with your laughter can you win
Can you win, can you win
You win the lasting laurels with your laughter
It reaches like an arm before you sink
To win the solitary truth you're after
You dare not ask the priestess how to think
How to think, how to think
I think of tears, I think of rain on shingles
I think of rain, I think of roses blue
I think of Rose, my heart begins to tremble
To see the place she's lately gotten to
He was sitting in the lounge of the Empire Hotel
He was drinking for diversion
He was thinking for himself
A little money riding on the Maple Leafs
Along comes a lady in lacy sleeves
She says...
"Let me sit down
You know, drinkin' alone's a shame
It's a shame, it's a crying shame
Look at those jokers
Glued to that damn hockey game
Hey honey-you've got lots of cash
Bring us round a bottle
And we'll have some laughs
Gin's what I'm drinking
I was raised on robbery
I'm a pretty good cook
I'm sitting on my groceries
Come up to my kitchen
I'll show you my best recipe
I try and I try but I can't save a cent
I'm up after midnight, cooking
Trying to make my rent
I'm rough but I'm pleasin'
I was raised on robbery
We had a little money once
They were pushing through a four Iane highway
Government gave us three thousand dollars
You should have seen it fly away
First he bought a '57 Biscayne
He put it in the ditch
He drunk up all the rest
That son of a bitch
His blood's bad whiskey
I was raised on robbery
You know you ain't bad looking
I like the way you hold your drinks
Come home with me honey
I ain't asking for no full length mink
Hey, where you going...
Don't go yet...
Your glass ain't empty and we just met
You're mean when you're loaded-
Light up light up
Light up your lazy blue eyes
Moon's up nights up
Taking the town by surprise
Night time night time
Day left an hour ago
City light time
Must you get ready so slow
There are places to come from and places to go
Night in the city looks pretty to me
Night in the city looks fine
Music comes spilling out into the street
Colors go flashing in time
Take off take off
Take off your stay-at-home shoes
Break off shake off
Chase off those stay-at-home blues
Stairway stairway
Down to the crowds in the street
They go their way
Looking for faces to greet
But we run on laughing with no one to meet
Night in the city looks pretty to me
Night in the city looks fine
Music comes spilling out into the street
I was an unmarried girl
I'd just turned twenty-seven
When they sent me to the sisters
For the way men looked at me
Branded as a jezebel
I knew I was not bound for Heaven
I'd be cast in shame
Into the Magdalene laundries
Most girls come here pregnant
Some by their own fathers
Bridget got that belly
By her parish priest
We're trying to get things white as snow
All of us woe-begotten-daughters
In the steaming stains
Of the Magdalene laundries
Prostitutes and destitutes
And temptresses like me--
Fallen women--
Sentenced into dreamless drudgery ...
Why do they call this heartless place
Our Lady of Charity?
Oh charity!
These bloodless brides of Jesus
If they had just once glimpsed their groom
Then they'd know, and they'd drop those stones
Concealed behind their rosaries
They wilt the grass they walk upon
They leech the light out of a room
They'd like to drive us down the drain
At the Magdalene laundries
Peg O'Connell died today
She was a cheeky girl
A flirt
They just stuffed her in a hole!
Surely to God you'd think at least some bells should ring!
One day I'm going to die here too
And they'll plant me in the dirt
Like some lame bulb
That never blooms come any spring
Not any spring
No, not any spring
I'm traveling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
That shell shock love away
There's comfort in melancholy
When there's no need to explain
It's just as natural as the weather
In this moody sky today
In our possessive coupling
So much could not be expressed
So now I'm returning to myself
These things that you and I suppressed
I see something of myself in everyone
Just at this moment of the world
As snow gathers like bolts of lace
Waltzing on a ballroom girl
You know it never has been easy
Whether you do or you do not resign
Whether you travel the breadth of extremities
Or stick to some straighter line
Now here's a man and a woman sitting on a rock
They're either going to thaw out or freeze
Listen...
Strains of Benny Goodman
Coming thru' the snow and the pinewood trees
I'm porous with travel fever
But you know I'm so glad to be on my own
Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger
Can set up trembling in my bones
I know - no one's going to show me everything
We all come and go unknown
Each so deep and superficial
Between the forceps and the stone
Well I looked at the granite markers
Those tribute to finality - to eternity
And then I looked at myself here
Chicken scratching for my immortality
In the church they light the candles
And the wax rolls down like tears
There's the hope and the hopelessness
I've witnessed thirty years
We're only particles of change I know, I know
Orbiting around the sun
But how can I have that point of view
When I'm always bound and tied to someone
White flags of winter chimneys
Waving truce against the moon
In the mirrors of a modern bank
>From the window of a hotel room
I'm traveling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
Heatwaves on the runway
As the wheels set down
He takes his baggage off the carousel
He takes a taxi into town
Yellow schools of taxi fishes
Jonah in a ticking whale
Caught up at the light in the fishnet windows
Of Bloomingdale's
Watching those high fashion girls
Skinny black models with Raveen curls
Beauty parlor blondes with credit card eyes
Looking for the chic and the fancy
To buy
He opens up his suitcase
In the continental suite
And people twenty stories down
Colored currents in the street
A helicopter lands on the Pan Am roof
Like a dragonfly on a tomb
And business men in button downs
Press into conference rooms
Battalions of paper-minded males
Talking commodities and sales
While at home their paper wives
And paper kids
Paper the walls to keep their gut reactions hid
Yellow checkers for the kitchen
Climbing ivy for the bath
She is lost in House and Gardens
He's caught up in Chief of Staff
He drifts off into the memory
Of the way she looked in school
With her body oiled and shining
At the public swimming pool ...
* * *
The more I'm with you, pretty baby
The more I feel my love increase
I'm building all my dreams around you
Our happiness will never cease
'Cause nothing's any good without you
Baby you're my centerpiece
We'll find a house and garden somewhere
Along a country road a piece
A little cottage on the outskirts
Where we can really find release
'Cause nothing's any good without you
Baby you're my centerpiece
* * *
...Shining hair and shining skin
Shining as she reeled him in
To tell him like she did today
Just what he could do with Harry's House
Silver drums, rhythms that he hums
Waltzing dogs, that come when he calls
Plans for one he keeps in a coffer
What can I offer, I don't know
Can I bring him love words to sing him
Like some foolish magi
I'll be gone and words in a song
Won't even last till sunrise
Go tell the drummer man
The time glass is out of sand
Ask him to understand
And wait for me, and wait for me
Streets and parks
Waltzes in the dark
Lovers now, when time will allow
An afternoon, the kind to believe in
Why am I leaving? I don't know
Distant places, just empty spaces
Till we are together
What can I bring, time leaves me nothing
I wonder will it ever.
Go tell the drummer man
The time glass is out of sand
Ask him to understand
And wait for me, and wait for me
Silver birds fly away like words
In the wind, and soon I'll be in
Another world
The land of without him
What's it about, this other world
Go tell the drummer man
The time glass is out of sand
Ask him to understand
The big man arrives
Disco dancers greet him
Plainclothes cops greet him
Small town, big man, fresh lipstick glistening
Sophomore jive
From victims of typewriters
The band sounds like typewriters
The big man he's not listening
His eyes hold Edith
His left hand holds his right
What does that hand desire
That he grips it so tight
Edith in the ring
The passed-over girls are conferring
The man with the diamond ring is purring
All claws for now withdrawn
One by one they bring
His renegade stories to her
His crimes and his glories to her
In challenge they look on
Women he has taken grow old too soon
He tilts their tired faces
Gently to the spoon
Edith in his bed
A plane in the rain is humming
The wires in the walls are humming
Some song-some mysterious song
Bars in her head
Beating frantic and snowblind
Romantic and snowblind
She says-his crime belongs
Edith and the Kingpin
Each with charm to sway
Are staring eye to eye
They dare not look away
It's a long, long way from Canada
A long way from snow chains
Donkey vendors slicing coconut
No parkas to their name
Black babies covered in baking flour
The cook's got a carnival song
We're going to lay down someplace shady
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland
Walter Raleigh and Chris Columbus
Come marching out of the waves
And claim the beach and all concessions
In the name of the suntan slave
I wrapped that flag around me
Like a Dorothy Lamour sarong
And I lay down thinking national
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland
Goodtime Mary and a fortune hunter
All dressed up to follow the drums
Mary in a feather hula-hoop
Miss Fortune with a rose on her big game gun
All saints, all sinners shining
Heed those trumpets all night long
Propped up on a samba beat
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland
Tar baby and the Great White Wonder
Talking over a glass of rum
Burning on the inside
With the knowledge of things to come
There's gambling out on the terrace
And midnight ramblin' on the lawn
As they lead toward temptation
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland
In a plane flying back to winter
In shoes full of tropic sand
A lady in a foreign flag
On the arm of her Marlboro Man
The hawk howls in New York City
Six foot drifts on Myrtle's lawn
As they push the recline buttons down
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Dreamland, dreamland
La, La ...
African sand on the trade winds
And the sun on the Amazon
As they push the reline buttons down
With dreamland coming on
Dreamland, dreamland
Love came to my door
With a sleeping roll
And a madman's soul
He thought for sure I'd seen him
Dancing up a river in the dark
Looking for a woman
To court and spark
He was playing on the sidewalk
For passing change
When something strange happened
Glory train passed through him
So he buried the coins he made
In People's Park
And went looking for a woman
To court and spark
It seemed like he read my mind
He saw me mistrusting him
And still acting kind
He saw how I worried sometimes
I worry sometimes
"All the guilty people," he said
They've all seen the stain-
On their daily bread
On their christian names
I cleared myself
I sacrificed my blues
And you could complete me
I'd complete you
His eyes were the color of the sand
And the sea
And the more he talked to me
The more he reached me
But I couldn't let go of L.A.
Caught in the middle
Carol, we're middle class
We're middle aged
We were wild in the old days
Birth of rock 'n roll days
Now your kids are coming up straight
And my child's a stranger
I bore her
But, I could not raise her
Nothing lasts for long--
Nothing lasts for long--
Nothing lasts for long--
Down at the Chinese Cafe
We'd be dreaming on our dimes
We'd be playing--
"Oh my love, my darling"
One more time
Uranium money
Is booming in the old home town now
It's putting up sleek concrete
Tearing the old landmarks down now
Paving over brave little parks
Ripping off Indian land again
How long--how long
Short sighted business men
Ah, nothing lasts for long--
Nothing lasts for long--
Nothing lasts for long--
Down at the Chinese Cafe
We'd be dreaming on our dimes
We'd be playing--
"You give your love, so sweetly"
One more time
Christmas is sparkling
Out on Carol's lawn
This girl of my childhood games
With kids nearly grown and gone
Grown so fast
Like the turn of a page
We look like our mothers did now
When we were those kids' age
Nothing lasts for long--
Nothing lasts for long--
Nothing lasts for long--
Down at the Chinese Cafe
We'd be dreaming on our dimes
We'd be playing--
"Oh my love, my darling
I've hungered for your touch
A long lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love to me."
(Time goes--where does the time go--
If you ever come to our town
On a carousel crusade
And you're tired of fighting windmills with a nail
Cross the fence and join the dragons
Who have never made the grade
Cara’s castle and the keepers of a most unholy grail.
Oh Cara, Queen of the losers, ruler of the weak
Give the poet what he chooses till he's too dumb to speak
There's a clock upon the mantle
But its hands forget the time
And the windows turn their backs upon the day
And the people in the shadows
Could be all lost friends of mine
Cara’s courtiers need no light – need no light to lose their way
Oh Cara, Queen of the losers, ruler of the weak
Give the poet what he chooses till he's too dumb to speak
From the end to the beginning
Crippled minds retrace the steps
From the burial to the birth they do retreat
Wonderin’ where and when and why
Their souls were slaughtered while they slept
Cara’s courtiers know no victory – know no victory just defeat
Oh Cara, Queen of the losers, ruler of the weak
Give the poet what he chooses till he's too dumb to speak
One by one the battered soldiers
Go slowly cross the moat
One by one they seek new castles somewhere else
With their crutches and the cravens
And I wonder is there hope
Is there hope for Cara’s courtiers – and the wars against themselves
Oh Cara, Queen of the losers, ruler of the weak
I've got a blue motel room
With a blue bedspread
I've got the blues inside and outside my head
Will you still love me
When I call you up when I'm down
Here in Savannah it's pouring rain
Palm trees in the porch light like slick black cellophane
Will you still love me
When I call you up when I get back to town
I know that you've got all those pretty girls coming on
Hanging on your boom-boom-pachyderm
Will you tell those girls that you've got German Measles
Honey, tell them you've got germs
I hope you'll be thinking of me
Because I'll be thinking of you
While I'm traveling home alone
Tell those girls that you've got Joni
She's coming back home
I've got road maps
From two dozen states
I've got coast to coast just to contemplate
Will you still love me
When I get back to town
It's funny how these old feelings hang around
You think they're gone
No, no
They just go underground
Will you still love me
When I get back to L.A. town
You and me, we're like America and Russia
We're always keeping score
We're always balancing the power
And that can get to be a cold cold war
We're going to have to hold ourselves a peace talk
In some neutral cafe
You lay down your sneaking round the town, honey
And I'll lay down the highway
I've got a blue motel room
With a blue bedspread
I've got the blues inside and outside my head
Will you still love me
I was driving across the burning desert
When I spotted six jet planes
Leaving six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain
It was the hexagram of the heavens
it was the strings of my guitar
Amelia, it was just a false alarm
The drone of flying engines
Is a song so wild and blue
It scrambles time and seasons if it gets thru to you
Then your life becomes a travelogue
Of picture-post-card-charms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm
People will tell you where they've gone
They'll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself you never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Other's just come to harm
Oh Amelia, it was just a false alarm
I wish that he was here tonight
It's so hard to obey
His sad request of me to kindly stay away
So this is how I hide the hurt
As the road leads cursed and charmed
I tell Amelia, it was just a false alarm
A ghost of aviation
She was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea, like me she had a dream to fly
Like Icarus ascending
On beautiful foolish arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm
Maybe I've never really loved
I guess that is the truth
I've spent my whole life in clouds at icy altitude
And looking down on everything
I crashed into his arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm
I pulled into the Cactus Tree Motel
To shower off the dust
And I slept on the strange pillows of my wanderlust
I dreamed of 747s
Over geometric farms
He came
She smiled
She thought she had him tamed
But he was just as wild
Eating from her hand at last
Wild things run fast
In the dark
He could see
The trap that was lying in her
Sweet company
Eating from her hand at last
Wild things run fast
Winter beat the pines about
He heard the heater
Cutting in and out
While she dreamed away . . .
In the night
It snowed
Fast tracks in the powder white
Leading out to the road
Winding from her tender grasp
Wild things run fast
Wild things run fast
Wild things run fast
What makes you run?
Wild thing
© 1994 Crazy Crow Music BMI
He met her in a French cafe
She slipped in sideways like a cat
Sidelong glances
What a wary little stray!
She sticks in his mind like that
Saying, "Avez-vous un allumette?"
With her lips wrapped around a cigarette
Yvette in English saying,
"Please have this
Little bit of instant bliss."
He's fumbling with her foreign tongue;
Reaching for words and drawing blanks
A loud mouth is stricken deaf and dumb
In a bistro on the left bank
"If I were a painter," Picasso said,
"I'd paint this girl from toe to head!"
Yvette in English saying,
"Please have this
Little bit of instant bliss."
Burgundy nocturne tips and spills
They trot along nicely in the spreading stain
New chills, new thrills
For the old uphill battle
How did he wind up here again?
Walking and talking
Touched and scared
Uninsulated wires left bare
Yvette in English going,
"Please have this
Little bit of instant bliss."
What blew her like a leaf his way?
(Up in the air and down to Earth)
First she flusters
Then she frays
So quick to question her own worth
Her cigarette burns her fingertips
As it falls like fireworks she curses it
Then sweetly in English she says,
"Please have this,
Little bit of instant bliss."
He sees her turn and walk away
Skittering like a cat on stone--
Her high heels clicking--
What a wary little stray!
She leaves him by the Seine alone
With the black water and the amber lights
And the bony bridge between left and right
Yvette in English saying,
"Please have this
Winter lady, where you going
With your hair all soft and loose like snowin'?
Winter girl, December child, don't run away.
Winter lady, walking sadly, does your lover
Treat you badly? Do you dream or wish on stars
To hear him say, "Oh, winter lady,
I won't hurt you, I won't cheat you,
I won't desert you, winter lady. You need lovin',
I need lovin', too. I need lovin' you."
Staring out your winter window
At a silver sky you know you've been to
In a kiss upon a day before a spring.
Winter lady, cry those crystal tears.
He won't know what he's missed
Till love's too late; you've changed your mind,
And it's my turn to sing, "Oh,
Winter lady, I won't hurt you, I won't cheat you,
I won't desert you, winter lady. You need lovin',
I awoke today and found the frost perched on the town
It hovered in a frozen sky, then it gobbled summer down
When the sun turns traitor cold
and all the trees are shivering in a naked row
I get the urge for going but I never seem to go
I get the urge for going
When the meadow grass is turning brown
Summertime is falling down and winter is closing in
I had me a man in summertime
He had summer-colored skin
And not another girl in town
My darling's heart could win
But when the leaves fell on the ground, and
Bully winds came around, pushed them face down in the snow
He got the urge for going
And I had to let him go
He got the urge for going
When the meadow grass was turning brown
Summertime was falling down and winter was closing in
Now the warriors of winter they gave a cold triumphant shout
And all that stays is dying, all that lives is getting out
See the geese in chevron flight flapping and a-racing on before the snow
They've got the urge for going, and they've got the wings so they can go
They get the urge for going
When the meadow grass is turning brown
Summertime is falling down and winter is closing in
I'll ply the fire with kindling now, I'll pull the blankets up to my chin
I'll lock the vagrant winter out and bolt my wandering in
I'd like to call back summertime and have her stay for just another month or so
But she's got the urge for going and I guess she'll have to go
She gets the urge for going when the meadow grass is turning brown
Yes I do--I love you!
I swear on the stars above I do!
I swear on the streetlight on the corner
Shoving back the shadows!
One shadow cursing
Another shadow laughing
Underneath the streetlight
I don't know where they're coming from
I just see 'em passing
Underneath the streetlight . . .
Yes I do--I love you!
I swear on the buildings above I do!
I swear on a billion yellow and T.V. blue windows!
Gayboys with their pants so tight
Out in the neon light
Underneath the street light
A m- m- madman-madman
Kicking over garbage cans
Underneath the streetlight . . .
Yes I do--I love you!
I swear on the blinkin' planes above I do!
I swear on the truck at the stoplight
With his airbrakes moaning!
All night the trucks roll
Up to the tunnel-toll
Underneath the streetlight
They come rollin', rollin'
Rollin' for a living
Underneath the streetlight . . .
Yes I do--I love you!
I swear on the disco sparkle dark I do!
I swear on the be-bop boys
Chasing the black bird
Rock 'n' roll broadcast
Movin' up now full blast
Underneath the streetlight
They come dancin', dancin'
Really rock 'n rollin'
Underneath the streetlight
Yes I do--I love you
I really love you
Yes I do--yes I do
© 1994 Crazy Crow Music BMI
You wanna make Van Goghs
Raise 'em up like sheep
Make 'em out of Eskimos
And women if you please
Make 'em nice and normal
Make 'em nice and neat
You see him with his shotgun there?
Bloodied in the wheat?
Oh what do you know about
Living in Turbulent Indigo?
Brash fields, crude crows
In a scary sky ...
In a golden frame
Roped off
Tourists guided by ...
Tourists talking about the madhouse
Talking about the ear
The madman hangs in fancy homes
They wouldn't let him near!
He'd piss in their fireplace!
He'd drag them through Turbulent Indigo
"I'm a burning hearth," he said
"People see the smoke
But no one comes to warm themselves
Sloughing off a coat
And all my little landscapes
All my yellow afternoons
Stack up around this vacancy
Like dirty cups and spoons
No mercy Sweet Jesus!
Varnished weeds in window jars
Tarnished beads on tapestries
Kept in satin boxes are
Reflections of love's memories
Letters from across the seas
Roses dipped in sealing wax
Valentines and maple leaves
Tucked into a paperback
Guess I'll throw them all away
I found someone to love today
Dark with darker moods is he
Not a golden Prince who's come
Through columbines and wizardry
To talk of castles in the sun
Still I'll take a chance and see
I found someone to love today
There's a sorrow in his eyes
Like the angel made of tin
What will happen if I try
To place another heart in him
In a Bleeker Street cafe
I found someone to love today
I found someone to love today
Of the darkness in men's minds
What can you say
That wasn't marked by history
Or the T.V. news today
He gets away with murder
The blizzards come and go
The stab and glare and buckshot
Of the heavy heavy snow
It comes and goes
It comes and goes
His grandpa loved an empire
His sister loved a thief
And lindsey loved the ways of darkness
Beyond belief
Girls in chilly blouses
The blizzards come and go
The stab and glare and buckshot
Of the heavy heavy snow
It comes and goes
It comes and goes
The cops don't seem to care
For derelicts or ladies of the night
They're weeds for yanking out of sight
If you're smart or rich or lucky
Maybe you'll beat the laws of man
But the inner laws of spirit
And the outer laws of nature
No man can
No--no man can
There lives a wolf in Lindsey
That raids and runs
Through the hills of Hollywood
And the downtown slums
He gets away with murder
The blizzards come and go
The stab and glare and buckshot
Of the heavy heavy snow
It comes and goes
Because Elvis gave 'em cars
You think I'm cheap
And you're hard done by
Look-you live here like a star
Rent free suite
Big blue pool that you sun by
Trips to tropic shores
Clothes from fancy stores
You want too much
You want too badly
You want everything for nothing
Going to the church
You chant
For my downfall
Chanting for my house
My friends
You want it all
The pillows on my bed
The visions in my head
You want too much
You want too badly
You want everything for nothing
In the land of litigation
The courts are like game shows
Take what's behind the curtain
The jury cries
I'm not going to be the jackpot
At the end of your perjured rainbow
Not if local justice has even one good eye
Oh it's not like I was blind
I saw
But I took no action
As you began to climb
Green clawed
Dissatisfaction
It wasn't hard to guess
That the end would be a mess
You want too much
You want too badly
You want everything for nothing
In the land of mass frustration
The judges are sleeping
Counting wooly little lawyers
And grinding their teeth
Outside my sleepless window
The Hollywood sirens are shrieking
While down some searchlit alley runs
Some lost belief
Oh I'm tangled in your lies
Your scam
Your spider web
Spit spun between the trees
Doors slam
You want my head
You'd eat your young alive
For a jaguar in the drive
You lie too much
You lie too badly
You want everything for nothing
If you hear a politician
Or a singer making song
Do you just refuse to listen
Knowing that he must be wrong
That's the way it is, you know,
You just see what you want to see
Who am I to tell you how to think
Or tell you who to be
I will show you what I know
Sometimes we will disagree
If we learn at all to grow
Then I have done my small duty
That's the way it is, you know,
You just see what you want to see
Who am I to tell you how to think
Or tell you who to be
I could bring my favorite flower
Maybe yours would be the same
Maybe we would argue hours
Over the fair flower's name
That's the way it is, you know,
You just see what you want to see
Who am I to tell you how to think
Or tell you who to be
If I brought my good friends home
And set a welcome table place
Could you see them past their clothing
Or past the color of their face
That's the way it is, you know,
You just see what you want to see
Who am I to tell you how to think
Or tell you who to be
That's the way it is, you know
You just see what you want to see
I picked the morning paper off the floor
It was full of other people's little wars
Wouldn't they like their peace
Don't we get bored
And we call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence
No tanks have ever rumbled through these streets
and the drone of planes at night has never frightened me
I keep the hours and the company that I please
And we call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence
Oh and deep in the night
Our appetites find us
Release us and bind us
Deep in the night
While madmen sit up building bombs
And making laws and bars
They'd like to slam free choice behind us
I saw a little lawyer on the tube
He said, "It's so easy now, anyone can sue."
"Let me show you how your petty aggravations can profit you!"
Call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence
Oh and deep in the night
Appetites find us
Release us and blind us
Deep in the night
While madmen sit up building bombs
And making laws and bars
They're gonna slam free choice behind us
Last night I dreamed I saw the planet flicker
Great forests fell like buffalo
Everything got sicker
And to the bitter end
Big business bickered
And they call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence
Oh these times, these times
Oh these changing times
Change in the heart of all mankind
Oh these troubled times
Study war no more
Lay down your arms
Study war no more
Lay 'em down, lay 'em down now
Study war no more
Lay down your arms
Study war no more
Newsreels rattle the Nazi dread--
The able-bodied have shipped away--
Molly McGee gets her tea-leaves read--
You'll be married in a month they say
"These leaves are crazy!
Look at this town--there's no men left!
Just frail old boys and babies
Talking to teacher in the treble clef."
She plants her garden in the spring
She does the winter shovelling
Tokyo Rose on the radio
She says she's leavin' but she don't go
Out of the blue--just passin' thru
A young flight sergeant
On two weeks leave--
Says "Molly McGee--no one else will do!"
And seals the tea-leaf prophecy.
Oh these nights are strong and soft--
Private passions and secret storms
Nothin' about him ticks her off
And he looks so cute in his uniform
She plants her garden in the spring
He does the winter shovelling
But summer's just a sneeze
In a long-long-bad-winter cold
She says, "I'm leavin' here" but she don't go
"Sleep little darlin'!
This is your happy home
Hiroshima cannot be pardoned!
Don't have kids when you get grown.
Because, this world is shattered
The wise are mourning--
The fools are joking
Oh--what does it matter?
The wash needs ironing
And the fire needs stoking."
She plants her garden in the spring
He does the winter shovelling
The three of 'em laughing 'round the radio
She says "I'm leavin' here" but she don't go
She plants her garden in the spring
They do the winter shovelling
They sit up late and watch the
Johnny Carson show
She says "I'm leavin' here but she don't go
Again and again the same situation
For so many years
Tethered to a ringing telephone
In a room full ot mirrors
A pretty girl in your bathroom
Checking out her sex appeal
I asked myself when you said you loved me
"Do you think this can be real?"
Still I sent up my prayer
Wondering where it had to go
With heaven full of astronauts
And the Lord on death row
While the millions of his lost and lonely ones
CalI out and clamour to be found
Caught in their struggle for higher positions
And their search for love that sticks around
You've had lots of lovely women
Now you turn your gaze to me
Weighing the beauty and the imperfection
To see if I'm worthy
Like the church
Like a cop
Like a mother
You want me to be truthful
Sometimes you turn it on me like a weapon though
And I need your approval
Still I sent up my prayer
Wondering who was there to hear
I said "Send me somebody
Who's strong, and somewhat sincere"
With the millions of the lost and lonely ones
I called out to be released
Caught in my struggle for higher achievements
And my search for love
And so once again
My dear Johnny my dear friend
And so once again you are fightin' us all
And when I ask you why
You raise your sticks and cry, and I fall
Oh, my friend
How did you come
To trade the fiddle for the drum
You say I have turned
Like the enemies you've earned
But I can remember
All the good things you are
And so I ask you please
Can I help you find the peace and the star
Oh, my friend
What time is this
To trade the handshake for the fist
And so once again
Oh, America my friend
And so once again
You are fighting us all
And when we ask you why
You raise your sticks and cry and we fall
Oh, my friend
How did you come
To trade the fiddle for the drum
You say we have turned
Like the enemies you've earned
But we can remember
All the good things you are
And so we ask you please
Can we help you find the peace and the star
Oh my friend
We have all come
To fear the beating of your drum
This is the reoccurring dream
Born in the dreary gap between
What we have now
And what we wish we could have
More fulfilling--and less frustrating!
Out of the envy in our eyes
Look!
Glamorous picture people rise
Radiant!
Gleaming down from screens and pages
Ooh--glamour--before your very eyes!
Isn't it true--isn't it true?
Good question--I know--who cares
Look here they tell you
If you had this
If you had that
Latest styles and colors
If we had that for us mmmmm
Wouldn't it be fabulous
If you had that house, car, bottle, jar
Your lovers would look like movie stars
Movie stars, movie stars, movie stars
Order your youth secrets of the stars
Call now--just $9.99
Our discontent is their delight
They offer relief for the purchase price
Love in a bottle
Love on four wheels
Is that our new car Charles?
Isn't it true--isn't it true?
We guarantee it--pick up your phone and dial
See here they sell you
If you had this
If you had that
I want a new truck!--More power!
If you use this shampoo
True love will come to you
If you had that house, car, bottle, jar
Your lovers would look like movie stars
Movie stars, movie stars, movie stars
Hollywood's greatest legends
Recognize this?
Dreamer
Soft sexy hair
Dream on
He's going to love me in this ruby, ruby lipstick
Others will notice!--Sexy!--Who cares!
Recognize this?
Dreamer
Latest styles and colors
Oh, dream on, dream on, dream on
The fashion looks you've been hoping for
Sexy--sexy
Recognize this?
Dreamer
So special
Dream on
We will have happiness in heaven
The place you dreamed of retiring to--
Who cares
Recognize this?
Dreamer
I know that glamour is--sexy
Oh dream on dreamer
What could go wrong?
Dream on
Who cares!
Recognize this?
Dreamer
I'm afraid I can't go below two million
Dream on
Life would be easy if I had that new appliance
Food processors for all of us
Who cares!
Recognize this?
Dreamer
There are lots of strings
Dream on
We can solve everything in science
Naturally
Science
It's a picture of how to get what you want out of life
Recognize this?
I love it
Dreamer
Isn't there some other way?
Who cares!
PENANCE CRANE:
The pirate anchored on a Wednesday
And why he came to port I wonder
To see a lady so my friends say
She dances for the sailors
In a smoky cabaret bar underground
Down in a cellar in a harbor town
I know he told her love was treasure
And they would reap the fullest bounty
He only comes to port for pleasure
So when the winds of morning
Blew the curtains in she woke and found he'd gone
I saw his sails unfurling Thursday dawn
The pirate he will sink you with a kiss
He'll steal your heart and sail away
THE DANCER:
Saturday early we met in the cove near the forest
PENANCE:
He'll leave you drowning in the flotsam Of a broken promise in the bay
THE DANCER:
(Dancing we wakened the dawn and the birds into chorus)
PENANCE:
He came again to see her
Yes I think they told me it was Saturday
THE DANCER:
(Ask Penance Crane she was out in her garden she saw us)
PENANCE:
I was at sea then
I didn't see them
I don't believe what you are saying
It isn't true I hardly knew him
Is this some game that you are playing
Go ask the dancer she's the one who saw him last
The one who drew him here
He hasn't come to me since spring last year
There was a time when he would
Bring me silks and sandalwood and Persian lace
THE DANCER:
(Then came another "goodbye" and another "Please don't go")
PENANCE:
And he would hold me close
And tell my sailing stories by the fireplace
THE DANCER:
(All night I dance and all day I keep watch with my sorrow)
PENANCE:
I was at sea I tell you I was
Nowhere near the mentioned murder place
THE DANCER:
(Searching for sails that don't come
And I guess but I don't know)
PENANCE:
Go ask the dancer
She knows the answer
THE DANCER:
I don't know
PENANCE:
She knows the answer
THE DANCER:
I don't know
PENANCE:
She knows the answer
THE DANCER:
I don't know
I want to paint a picture
Botticelli style
Instead of Venus on a clam
I'd paint this flower child
"You are the air my flowers breathe"
He calls, and the ladies turn around
On the first day of Spring
I'm looking at the only joy around
He's the only joy around
The only joy I found
The only joy in town
The Spanish steps are crowded
Bunch of bodies brooding there
Dead pan side-walk vendors
Hustling vacant stares
Making all the more exceptional
This fool in a flower crown
On the first day of Spring
I'm looking at the only joy in town
He's the only joy around
The only joy I found
The only joy in town
The Botticelli black boy
With the fuchias in his hair
Is breathing in women like oxygen
On the Spanish stairs
In my youth I would have followed him
All through this terra-cotta town
On the first day of Spring
We'd dance and sing
And be the only joy around
We'd be the only joy around
The only joy in town
He's the only joy I've found
All day
At night these streets are empty
Where does everybody go
Where are the brash and tender rooms
In Roman candle glow
Where are Fellini's circus'
La Dolce Vita clowns
On the first day of Spring
I'm looking
At the only joy in town
He's the only joy around
The only joy I found
The only joy in town
The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in '68,
And he told me all romantics meet the same fate someday
Cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe
You laugh, he says you think you're immune, go look at your eyes
They're two blue moons
You like roses and kisses and pretty men to tell you
All those pretty lies, pretty lies
When you gonna realise they're only pretty lies
Just pretty lies, just pretty lies
He put a quarter in the Wurlitzer, and he pushed
Three buttons and the thing began to whirr
And a bar maid came by in fishnet stockings and a bow tie
And she said "Drink up now it's gettin' on time to close."
"Richard, you haven't really changed," I said
It's just that now you're romanticizing some pain that's in your head
You got tombstones in your eyes, but the songs
You punched are dreaming
Listen, they sing of love so sweet, love so sweet
When you gonna get yourself back on your feet?
Oh and love can be so sweet, so sweet
Richard got married to a figure skater
And he bought her a dishwasher and a Coffee percolator
And he drinks at home now most nights with the TV on
And all the house lights left up bright
I'm gonna blow this damn candle out
I don't want nobody comin' over to my table
I got nothing to talk to anybody about
All good dreamers pass this way some day
Hidin' behind bottles in dark cafes
Dark cafes
Only a dark cocoon before I get my gorgeous wings
And I fly away
When I first saw your gallery
I liked the ones of ladies
Then you began to hang up me
You studied to portray me
In ice and greens
And old blue jeans
And naked in the roses
Then you got into funny scenes
That all your work discloses
"Lady, don't love me now I am dead
I am a saint, turn down your bed
I have no heart," that's what you said
You said, "I can be cruel
But let me be gentle with you"
Somewhere in a magazine
I found a page about you
I see that now it's Josephine
Who cannot be without you
I keep your house in fit repair
I dust the portraits daily
Your mail comes here from everywhere
The writing looks like ladies'
"Lady, please love me now, I am dead
I am a saint, turn down your bed
I have no heart," that's what you said
You said, "I can be cruel
But let me be gentle with you"
I gave you all my pretty years
Then we began to weather
And I was left to winter here
While you went west for pleasure
And now you're flying bock this way
Like some lost homing pigeon
They've monitored your brain, you say
And changed you with religion
"Lady, please love me now I was dead
I am no saint, turn down your bed
Lady, have you no heart," that's what you said
Well, I can be cruel
But let me be gentle with you
When I first saw your gallery
I liked the ones of ladies
But now their faces follow me
I'm down to a roll of dimes
I'm stalking the slot that's hot
I keep hearing bells all around me
Jingling in the lucky jackpots
They keep you tantalized
They keep you reaching for your wallet
Here in fools' paradise!
I talked to a cat from Des Moines
He said he ran a cleaning plant
That cat was clanking with coin
Well, he must have had a genie in a lamp
'cause every time--I dropped a dime--I blew it
He kept ringing bells
Nothing to it!
He got three oranges
Three lemons
Three cherries
Three plums
I'm losing my taste for fruit
Watching the dry cleaner do it
Like Midas in a polyester suit
It's all luck!
It's just luck!
You get a little lucky and you make a little money!
I followed him down the strip
He picked out a booth at Circus Circus
where the cowgirls fill the room
With their big balloons
The Cleaner was pitching with purpose!
He had Dinos and Pooh Bears
And lions--pink and blue there
He couldn't lose there!
Des Moines was stacking the chips
Raking off the tables
Ringing the bandit's bells
This is a story that's a drag to tell
(In some ways)
Since I lost every dime
I laid on the line
But the cleaner from Des Moines
Could put a coin
In the door of a John
And get twenty for one
Peridots and periwinkle blue medallions
Gilded galleons spilled across the ocean floor
Treasure somewhere in the sea and he will find where
Never mind their questions there's no answer for
The roll of the harbor wake
The songs that the rigging makes
The taste of the spray he takes
And he learns to give
He aches and he learns to live
He stakes all his silver
On a promise to be free
Mermaids live in colonies
All his seadreams come to me
City satins left at home I will not need them
I believe him when he tells of loving me
Something truthful in the sea your lies will find you
Leave behind your streets he said and come to me
Come down from the neon nights
Come down from the tourist sights
Run down till the rain delights you
You do not hide
Sunlight will renew your pride
Skin white by skin golden
Like a promise to be free
Dolphins playing in the sea
All his seadreams come to me
Seabird I have seen you fly above the pilings
I am smiling at your circles in the air
I will come and sit by you while he lies sleeping
Fold your fleet wings I have brought some dreams to share
A dream that you love someone
A dream that the wars are done
A dream that you tell no one but the grey sea
They'll say that you're crazy
And a dream of a baby
Like a promise to be free
Children laughing out to sea
All his seadreams come to me
I met a young soldier
He said his name was Killer Kyle
He was shakin' all over
Like a night-frightened child
This is his story
It's a tough one for me to sing
Hard as the squawk and the flap
And the beat of--the beat of black wings
"They gave me a gun," he said
"They gave me a mission
For the power and the glory--
Propaganda--piss on 'em
There's a war zone inside me--
I can feel things exploding--
I can't even hear the fucking music playing
For the beat of--the beat of black wings."
He said, "I never had nothin'--
Nothin' I could believe in
My girl killed our unborn child
Without even grievin'!
I put my hands on her belly
To feel the kid kickin'--damn!
She'd been to some clinic
Oh--the beat of black wings."
"They want you--they need you--
They train you to kill--
To be a pin on some map--
Some vicarious thrill--
The old hate the young
That's the whole heartless thing
The old pick the wars
We die in 'em
To the beat of--the beat of black wings."
There's a man drawing pictures
On the sidewalk with chalk
Just as fast as he draws 'em
Rain come down and wash 'em off
"Keep the drinks comin' girl
'Til I can't feel anything
I'm just a chalk mark in a rainstorm
I'm just the beat of black wings."
Front rooms
Back rooms
Slide into tables
Crowd into bathrooms
Joke around
Cheap talk
Deep talk
Talk, talk, talk around the clock
Crawl home
Lie down
Teeth chatter
Heart pounds
I don't feel so good
I don't feel so good
Push a button to escape
Preacher on the tube crying "Lord!"
There's evil in this land
Evangelist:
"Rock and roll music!"
"Cast down these dope-fiends
And there noisy bands!"
"Damn their souls!"
Preacher preaching love like vengeance
Preaching love like hate
Calling for large donations
Promising estates
Rolling lawns and angel bands
Behind the pearly gates
You know, he will have his in this life
But yours will have to wait
He's immaculately tax free
"Mulitiple hundreds of thousands of ..."
Tax free
"Hundreds and millions of dollars"
Tax free
"A hundred billion dollars!
And who is paying the price?
Who, who
"Your children are"
Pissed off
Jacked up
Scream into the mike
Spit into the loving cup
Strut like a rooster
March like a man
God's hired hands and the devil bands
Packing the same grandstands
Different clothes
"Pot in their pockets!"
Different hair
"Sexually active"
Raise a screaming guitar or a bible in the air
Theatre of anguish
Theatre of glory
God's hired hands and the devil bands
Oh come let us adore---ME!
Lord, there's danger in this land
You get witch-hunts and wars
When church and state hold hands
Fuck it!
Tonight I'm going dancing
With the drag queens and the punks
Big beat deliver me
From this sanctimonious skunk
We're no flaming angels
And he's not heaven sent
How can he speak for the Prince of Peace
When he's hawk-right militant
And he's immaculately tax free
"Our nation has lost its guts!"
Save me
"Our nation has lost its strength"
Tax free
"Our nation has whimpered and cried"
Save me
"And petted the Castros"
Tax free
"The Khomeinis' and the Kaddafis'"
Save me
"For so long"
Tax free
"That we don't know how to act like a man"
Save me
"I think that we should turn the United States Marines
loose on that little island south of Florida and
stop that problem!"
"I am preachin' love, I am!"
I almost closed the door
Cancelled on everything we opened up for
Tonight the shadows had their say
Their sad notions of the way
Things really are
Damn these blues!
They'd turn my heart against you
Since I was fool enough
To find romance
I'm trying to convince myself
This is just a dance!
We move in measures
Through loves' changing faces
Needy and nonchalant
Greedy and gracious
Through petty dismissals
And grand embraces
Like it was only a dance!
We are survivors
Some get broken
Some get mended
Some can't surrender
They're too well defended
Some get lucky
Some are blessed
And some pretend
This is only a dance!
We're dancing fools
You and me
Tonight it's a dance of insecurity
It's my solo
While you're away
Shadows have the saddest thing to say
Love
We can't live without it
Why do we go out and get it
Just to turn around and doubt it
LIke we're scared to care
It's hard to talk about it
Aw--it's only a dance
Tonight the shadows had their say
There's a sucker born a day
I heard them say
Born to lose
Am I a sucker to love you?
You're such a sweet love
You're a proud man
You're a treasure
Time passes gracefully
Living can be such a pleasure
You make it easy to take it in measures
Like it was only a dance!
We're dancing fools
You and me
Tonight it's a dance of insecurity
It's my solo
Blue way
And shadows have the saddest things to say
We are survivors
Some get broken
Some get mended
Some can't surrender
They're too well defended
Some get lucky
Some are blessed
And some pretend
Fly silly seabird
No dreams can possess you
No voices can blame you
For sun on your wings
My gentle relations
Have names they must call me
For loving the freedom
Of all flying things
My dreams with the seagulls fly
Out of reach out of cry
I came to the city
And lived like old Crusoe
On an island of noise
In a cobblestone sea
And the beaches were concrete
And the stars paid a light bill
And the blossoms hung false
On their store window trees
My dreams with the seagulls fly
Out of reach out of cry
Out of the city
And down to the seaside
To sun on my shoulders
And wind in my hair
But sandcastles crumble
And hunger is human
And humans are hungry
For worlds they can't share
My dreams with the seagulls fly
Out of reach out of cry
I call to a seagull
Who dives to the waters
And catches his silver-fine
Dinner alone
Crying where are the footprints
That danced on these beaches
And the hands that cast wishes
That sunk like a stone
My dreams with the seagulls fly
(based on a poem by W.B. Yeats)
Turning and turning
Within the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer
Things fall apart
The center cannot hold
And a blood dimmed tide
Is loosed upon the world
Nothing is sacred
The ceremony sinks
Innocence is drowned
In anarchy
The best lack conviction
Given some time to think
And the worst are full of passion
Without mercy
Surely some revelation is at hand
Surely it's the second coming
And the wrath has finally taken form
For what is this rough beast
Its hour come at last
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
Hoping and hoping
As if by my weak faith
The spirit of this world
Would heal and rise
Vast are the shadows
That straddle and strafe
And struggle in the darkness
Troubling my eyes
Shaped like a lion
It has the head of a man
With a gaze as blank
And pitiless as the sun
And it's moving its slow thighs
Across the desert sands
Through dark indignant
Reeling falcons
Surely some revelation is at hand
Surely it's the second coming
And the wrath has finally taken form
For what is this rough beast
Its hour come at last
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
Raging and raging
It rises from the deep
Opening its eyes
After twenty centuries
Vexed to a nightmare
Out of a stony sleep
By a rocking cradle
By the Sea of Galilee
Surely some revelation is at hand
Surely it's the second coming
And the wrath has finally taken form
For what is this rough beast
Its hour come at last
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
Shiny toys--right on time
Shiny toys--right on time
Shiny toys
I'm reading people rags in the checkout lane
Look, here's a hunk--here's a honey
Celebrated people and their claims to fame
Here's a boy and his money
And pictures of the winners in the latest
Ratepoll games
Whatever makes you "Yahoo"
Whatever makes your time feel satisfyin'
Whatever makes you
"Oh I'm so excited"
Whatever makes you feel like you're right on time
Party night
Good bands all over town
(good, good, good)
Mega lights and supersonic sounds
(good, good, good)
Flashy boys and girls that really play
(good, good, good)
Shiny toys, when it's over don't you
hate to have to put your toys away
Shiny toys--"I love my Porsche"
Shiny toys
Shiny toys--"I love my Porsche"
Shiny toys
Simple joys
Walking on the beach at the end of the day
Between the sand and the seagulls
Watching the glorious sun setting on the bay
Here comes a boy and his beagle
Walking with a man in a toupee
And a man with his head shaved
Whatever makes you "Mmmm, mmmm"
Whatever makes your time feel satisfyin'
Whatever makes you "Mmmmm, mmmm"
Whatever makes you feel like you're right on time
Party night
Super bands all over town
(good, good, good)
Super lights and supersonic sounds
(good, good, good)
Flashy boys and girls that really play
(good, good, good)
Shiny toys, when it's over
Don't you hate to have to put your toys away
Shiny toys--right on time
Shiny toys--right on time
Shiny toys--right on time
Every picture has its shadows
And it has some source of light
Blindness, blindness and sight
The perils of benefactors
The blessings of parasites
Blindness, blindness and sight
Threatened by all things
Devil of cruelty
Drawn to all things
Devil of delight
Mythical devil of the ever-present laws
Governing blindness, blindness and sight
Suntans in reservation dining rooms
Pale miners in their lantern rays
Night, night and day
Hostage smiles on presidents
Freedom scribbled in the subway
It's like night, night and day
Threatened by all things
God of cruelty
Drawn to all things
God of delight
Mythical god of the everlasting laws
Governing day, day and night
Critics of all expression
Judges in black and white
Saying it's wrong, saying it's right
Compelled by prescribed standards
Or some ideals we fight
For wrong, wrong and right
Threatened by all things
Man of cruelty-mark of Cain
Drawn to all things
Man of delight-born again, born again
Man of the laws, the ever-broken laws
Governing wrong, wrong and right
Governing wrong, wrong and right
Out of the fire like Catholic saints
Comes Scarlett and her deep complaint
Mimicking tenderness she sees
In sentimental movies
A celluloid rider comes to town
Cinematic lovers sway
Plantations and sweeping ballroom gowns
Take her breath away
Out in the wind in crinolines
Chasing the ghosts of Gable and Flynn
Through stand-in boys and extra players
Magnolias hopeful in her auburn hair
She comes from a school of southern charm
She likes to have things her way
Any man in the world holding out his arm
Would soon be made to pay
Friends have told her not so proud
Neighbors trying to sleep and yelling "not so loud"
Lovers in anger "Block of Ice"
Harder and harder just to be nice
Given in the night to dark dreams
From the dark things she feels
She covers her eyes in the X-rated scenes
Running from the reels
Beauty and madness to be praised
'Cause it is not easy to be brave
To walk around in so much need
To carry the weight of all that greed
Dressed in stolen clothes she stands
Cast iron and frail
With her impossibly gentle hands
And her blood-red fingernails
Out of the fire and still smoldering
She says "A woman must have everything"
Shades of Scarlett Conquering
I met a friend of spirit
He drank and womanized
And I sat before his sanity
I was holding back from crying
He saw my complications
And he mirrored me back simplified
And we laughed how our perfection
Would always be denied
"Heart and humor and humility"
He said "Will lighten up your heavy load"
I left him for the refuge of the roads
I fell in with some drifters
Cast upon a beachtown
Winn Dixie cold cuts and highway hand me downs
And I wound up fixing dinner
For them and Boston Jim
I well up with affection
Thinking back down the roads to then
The nets were overflowing
In the Gulf of Mexico
They were overflowing in the refuge of the roads
There was spring along the ditches
There were good times in the cities
Oh, radiant happiness
It was all so light and easy
Till I started analyzing
And I brought on my old ways
A thunderhead of judgment was
Gathering in my gaze
And it made most people nervous
They just didn't want to know
What I was seeing in the refuge of the roads
I pulled off into a forest
Crickets clicking in the ferns
Like a wheel of fortune
I heard my fate turn, turn turn
And I went running down a white sand road
I was running like a white-assed deer
Running to lose the blues
To the innocence in here
These are the clouds of Michelangelo
Muscular with gods and sungold
Shine on your witness in the refuge of the roads
In a highway service station
Over the month of June
Was a photograph of the earth
Taken coming back from the moon
And you couldn't see a city
On that marbled bowling ball
Or a forest or a highway
Or me here least of all
You couldn't see these cold water restrooms
Or this baggage overload
I slept last night in a good hotel
I went shopping today for jewels
The wind rushed around in the dirty town
And the children let out from the schools
I was standing on a noisy corner
Waiting for the walking green
Across the street he stood
And he played real good
On his clarinet, for free.
Now me I play for fortune
And those velvet curtain calls
I've got a black limousine
And two gentlemen
Escorting me to the halls
And I play if you have the money
Or if you're a friend to me
But the one man band
By the quick lunch stand
He was playing real good, for free.
Nobody stopped to hear him
Though he played so sweet and high
They knew he had never
Been on their T.V.
So they passed his music by
I meant to go over and ask for a song
Maybe put on a harmony...
I heard his refrain
As the signal changed
Marlena under Foster Grants
She's undercover from the dawns advance
That girl is travel-drained
And the neon mercury vapor stained
Miami sky
It's red as meat
It's a cheap pink rose
Otis in the driver's seat
Watches the street lights fade away
On louvered blocks in green sea air
In fluorescent fossil yards
Slippers are shuffling into folding chairs
Freckled hands are shuffling cards
They've come for fun and sun
While Muslims stick up Washington ...
Otis empties out the trunk
On the steps of that celebrated dump
Sleazing by the sea
Bow down to her royal travesty--
In her ballrooms heads of state--
In her bedrooms rented girls--
Always the grand parades of cellulite
Jiggling to her golden pools
Through flock and cupid colonnades
They jiggle into surgery
Hopefully beneath the blade
They dream of golden beauty ...
They've come for fun and sun
While Muslims stick up Washington ...
Marlena, white as stretcher sheet
Watches it all from her 10th floor balcony
Like it's her opera box
All those Pagliacci summer frocks
Otis is fiddling with the TV dial
All he gets are cartoons and reruns
She taps her glass with an emery file
Watching three rings in the sun
The golden dive, the fatted flake
And sizzle in the mink oil
It's all a dream
She has awake
Checked into Miami Royal
Where they've come for fun and sun
While Muslims hold up Washington ...
Dream on
Dream on
Dream on
Dream on
Must I forgive you
Each time
And say you don't know what your're doing
There are no victimless crimes
I know of
Out here in these graffiti ruins
My love
Oh I am not old
I'm told
But I am not young
Oh and nothing can be done
Don't start
My heart
Is a smoking gun
Oh and nothing can be done
I heard you leaving
Late last night
I heard you screaming down the mountain
Like you were running red lights
(Red lights)
You had some trash-can-rock-band pounding
Oh I am not old
I'm told
But I am not young
Oh and nothing can be done
Don't start
My heart
Is a smoking gun
Oh and nothing can be done
Must I surrender
With grace
The things I loved when I was younger
(Sweet embrace)
Must I remember your face
So well
What do I do here with this hunger
Oh I am not old
I'm told
But I am not young
Oh and nothing can be done
Don't start
My heart
Is a smoking gun
Oh and nothing can be done
Nothing can be done
Nothing can be done
© 1994 Crazy Crow Music BMI
The story hit the news
From coast to coast
They said you beat the girl
You loved the most
Your charitable acts
Seemed out of place
With the beauty
With your fist marks on her face
Your buddies all stood by
They bet their fortunes
And their fame
That she was out of line
And you were not to blame
Six hundred thousand doctors
Are putting on rubber gloves
And they're poking
At the miseries made of love
They say they're learning
How to spot
The battered wives
Among all the women
They see bleeding through their lives
I bleed--
For your perversity--
These red words that make a stain
On your white-washed claim that
She was out of line
And you were not to blame
I heard your baby say
When he was only three
"Daddy, let's get some girls
One for you and one for me."
His mother had the frailty
You despise
And the looks
You love to drive to suicide
Not one wet eye around
Her lonely little grave
Said, "He was out of line girl
I hired a coach to take me from confusion to the plane
And though we shared a common space I know I'll never meet again
The driver with his eyebrows furrowed in the rear-view mirror
I read his name and it was plainly written Nathan La Franeer
I asked him would he hurry
But we crawled the canyons slowly
Thru the buyers and the sellers
Thru the burglar bells and the wishing wells
With gangs and girly shows
The ghostly garden grows
The cars and buses bustled thru the bedlam of the day
I looked thru window-glass at streets and Nathan grumbled at the grey
I saw an aging cripple selling Superman balloons
The city grated thru chrome-plate
The clock struck slowly half-past-noon
Thru the tunnel tiled and turning
Into daylight once again I am escaping
Once again goodbye
To symphonies and dirty trees
With parks and plastic clothes
The ghostly garden grows
He asked me for a dollar more
He cursed me to my face
He hated everyone who paid to ride
And share his common space
I picked my bags up from the curb
And stumbled to the door
Another man reached out his hand
Another hand reached out for more
And I filled it full of silver
And I left the fingers counting
And the sky goes on forever
Without meter maids and peace parades
You feed it all your woes
The ghostly garden grows
My old man
He's a singer in the park
He's a walker in the rain
He's a dancer in the dark
We don't need no piece of paper
From the city hall
Keeping us tied and true
My old man
Keeping away my blues
He's my sunshine in the morning
He's my fireworks at the end of the day
He's the warmest chord I ever heard
Play that warm chord, play and stay baby
We don't need no piece of paper
From the city hall
Keeping us tied and true
My old man
Keeping away my blues
But when he's gone
Me and them lonesome blues collide
The bed's too big
The frying pan's too wide
Then he comes home
And he takes me in his loving arms
And he tells me all his troubles
And he tells me all my charms
We don't need no piece of paper
From the city hall
Keeping us tied and true
No, my old man
Keeping away my blues
But when he's gone
Me and them lonesome blues collide
The bed's too big
The frying pan's too wide
My old man
He's a singer in the park
He's a walker in the rain
He's a dancer in the dark
We don't need no piece of paper
From the city hall
Keeping us tied and true
No, my old man
When morning comes to Morgantown
The merchants roll their awnings down
The milktrucks make their morning rounds
In morning, Morgantown
We'll rise up early, with the sun
To ride the bus while everyone is yawning
And the day is young
In morning, Morgantown
Morning Morgantown
Buy your dreams a dollar down
Morning any town you name
Morning's just the same
We'll find a table in the shade
And sip our tea and lemonade
And watch the morning on parade
In morning, Morgantown
Ladies in their rainbow fashions
Colored stop and go lights flashing
We'll wink at total strangers passing in
Morning, Morgantown
Morning Morgantown
Buy your dreams a dollar down
Morning any town you name
Morning's just the same
I'd like to buy you everything
A wooden bird with painted wings
A window full of colored rings
In morning, Morgantown.
But the only thing I have to give
To make you smile, to win you with
Are all the mornings still to live
Michael wakes you up with sweets
He takes you up streets and the rain comes down
Sidewalk markets locked up tight
And umbrellas bright on a grey background
There's oil on the puddles in taffeta patterns
That run down the drain
In colored arrangements
That Michael will change with a stick that he found
(CHORUS)
Michael from mountains
Go where you will go to
Know that I will know you
Someday I may know you very well
Michael brings you to a park
He sings and its dark when the clouds come by
Yellow slickers up on swings
Like puppets on strings hanging in the sky
They'll splash home to suppers in wallpapered kitchens
Their mothers will scold
But Michael will hold you
To keep away cold till the sidewalks are dry-
(CHORUS)
Michael leads you up the stairs
He needs you to care and you know you do
Cats come crying to the key
And dry you will be in a towel or two
There's rain in the window
There's sun in the painting that smiles on the wall
You want to know all
But his mountains have called so you never do-
(CHORUS)
Marcie in a coat of flowers
Steps inside a candy store
Reds are sweet and greens are sour
Still no letter at her door
So she'll wash her flower curtains
Hang them in the wind to dry
Dust her tables with his shirt and
Wave another day goodbye
Marcie's faucet needs a plumber
Marcie's sorrow needs a man
Red is autumn green is summer
Greens are turning and the sand
All along the ocean beaches
Stares up empty at the sky
Marcie buys a bag of peaches
Stops a postman passing by
And summer goes
Falls to the sidewalk like string and brown paper
Winter blows
Up from the river there's no one to take her
To the sea
Marcie dresses warm its snowing
Takes a yellow cab uptown
Red is stop and green's for going
Sees a show and rides back down
Down along the Hudson River
Past the shipyards in the cold
Still no letter's been delivered
Still the winter days unfold
Like magazines
Fading in dusty grey attics and cellars
Make a dream
Dream back to summer and hear how
he tells her
Wait for me
Marcie leaves and doesn't tell us
Where or why she moved away
Red is angry green is jealous
That was all she had to say
Someone thought they saw her Sunday
Window shopping in the rain
Someone heard she bought a one-way ticket
And went west again
I'm a lucky girl
I found my friend
I've been all around the world
Mission Impossible
Chasing the rainbow's end
Wise guys
Shy guys
And sly lover boys
With big bad bedroom eyes ...
I never loved a man I trusted
As far as I could pitch my shoe
'Til I loved you
You're my lucky star
You're my magician
You make the night prowling disappear
Vanished from the star-war-bars
Empty repetition
I get my heart full here
Playboys
Stray boys
And "Say, hey, hey" boys'll treat you like a toy
I never loved a man I trusted
As far as I could pitch my shoe
'Til I loved you
Cheaters
Woman beaters
And Huck Finn shucksters hopping parking meters
I never loved a man
I trusted
As far as I could pitch my shoe
'til I loved you
I'm a lucky girl
I found my friend
I been all around the world
Mission Impossible
Chasing the rainbow's end
Wise guys
Booby-prize guys
And sly lover boys
With big bad bedroom eyes ...
I never loved a man I trusted
As far as I could throw my shoe
'Til I loved you
The firmament of Tinsel Town
Is strung with tungsten stars
Lot's of forty watt successes
He says where's my own shining hour
He's the well kept secret of the underground
He's in debt to the company store
Because his only channelled aspiration
Was getting back that girl he had before
He's got stacks and stacks of words that rhyme
Describing what it is to lose
He's got some just for laughs
He's got some for love
That mainline to his blues
Some to shed a little light on you and on me
Some to shed a little light on the human story
The wars of pride and property
The rebel Irish and the promised land Jew
Fighting behind his eyes and over seas
Wounded in action and no ceasefire in view
Brave reporters bring the battles home
But tonight inside that box
Just more bang bang ketchup color to him
Just more Twentieth Century Fox
All because that ghostly girl comes haunting
Just out of reach-outside his bed
And she kicks the covers off his sleep
For the clumsy things he said
She commands his head-She tries his sanity
She demands his head-Tonight unknowingly
Vaguely she floats and lacelike
Blown in like a curtain on the night wind
She's nebulous and naked
He wonders where she's been
He grabs at the air because there's nothing there
Her evasiveness stings him
With long legs-long lonely legs
Bruised from banging into things
One day he was standing just outside her door
He was carrying an armload of bright balloons
She just laughed
She said she heard him knocking
And she teased him for the moon
"Is one the moon, dear clown,
Tied to a string for me?"
He tried but he could not get it down
For truth or for mystery
He tried but he could not get it down
Although I speak in tongues
Of men and angels
I'm just sounding brass
And tinkling cymbals without love--
Love suffers long--
Love is kind!--
Enduring all things--
Love has no evil in mind
If I had the gift of prophecy--
And all the knowledge--
And the faith to move the mountains
Even if I understood all of the mysteries--
If I didn't have love
I'd be nothing
Love--never looks for love--
Love's not puffed up--
Or envious--
Or touchy--
Because it rejoices in the truth
Not in iniquity
Love sees like a child sees
As a child I spoke as a child--
I thought and I understood as a child--
But when I became a woman--
I put away childish things
And began to see through a glass darkly
Where, as a child, I saw it face to face
Now, I only know it in part
Fractions in me
Of faith and hope and love
And of these great three
Love's the greatest beauty
Love
Love
Love
Born with the moon in Cancer
Choose her a name she will answer to
Call her green and the winters cannot fade her
Call her green for the children who've made her
Little green, be a gypsy dancer
He went to California
Hearing that everything's warmer there
So you write him a letter and say, "Her eyes are blue."
He sends you a poem and she's lost to you
Little green, he's a non-conformer
CH0RUS:
Just a little green
Like the color when the spring is born
There'll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow
Just a little green
Like the nights when the Northern lights perform
There'll be icicles and birthday clothes
And sometimes there'll be sorrow
Child with a child pretending
Weary of lies you are sending home
So you sign all the papers in the family name
You're sad and you're sorry, but you're not ashamed
Little green, have a happy ending
CHORUS:
Just a little green
Like the color when the spring is born
There'll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow
Just a little green
Like the nights when the Northern lights perform
There'll be icicles and birthday clothes
Lesson in Survival
Spinning out on turns
That get you tough
Guru books - the bible
Only a reminder
That you're just not good enough
You need to believe in something
Once I could in our love
Black road
Double Yellow line
Friends and kin
Campers in the kitchen
That's fine sometimes
But I know my needs
My sweet tumbleweed
I need more quiet times
By a river flowing
You and me deep kisses
And the sun going down
Maybe its paranoia
Maybe its sensitivity
Your friends protect you
Scrutinize me
I get so damn timid
Not at all the spirit
That's inside of me
Oh baby I can't seem to make it with you socially
There's this reef around me
I'm looking way out at the ocean
Love to see that green water in motion
I'm going to get a boat
And we can row it
If you ever get the notion
To be needed by me
Fresh salmon frying
And the tide rolling in
I went to see a friend tonight
It was very late when I walked in
My talking as it rambled
Revealed suspicious reasoning
the visit seemed to darken him
I came in as bright as a neon light
And I burned out right there before him
I told him these things I'm telling you now
Watched them buckle up in his brow
When you dig down deep
You lose good sleep
And it makes you heavy company
I will always love you
Hands alike
Magnet and iron
I am Lakota
Lakota, looking at money man
Diggin' the deadly quotas
Out of balance, out of hand
We want the land
Lay down the reeking ore
Don't you hear the shrieking in the trees?
Everywhere you touch the earth she's sore
Every time you skin her all things weep
Your money mocks us
Restitution what good can it do?
Kenneled in metered boxes
Red dogs in debt to you
I am Lakota
Lakota, fighting among ourselves
All we can say with one whole heart
Is we won't sell, no we'll never sell
We want the land
The lonely coyote calls
In the woodlands footprints of the deer
In the barrooms poor drunk bastard falls
In the courtrooms deaf ears sixty years
You think we're sleeping but
Quietly like rattlesnakes and stars
We have seen the trampled rainbows
In the smoke of cars
I am Lakota
Brave
Sun pity me
I am Lakota
Broken
Moon pity me
I am Lakota
Grave
Shadows stretching
Lakota
Oh, pity me
I am Lakota
Weak
Grass pity me
I am Lakota
Faithful
Rocks pity me
I am Lakota
Meek
Standing water
Lakota
Oh, pity me
I am Lakota
Lakota, standing on sacred land
We never sold these black hills
To the missile-heads, to the power plants
We want the land
The bullet and the fence broke Lakota
The black coats and the booze broke Lakota
Courts that circumvent choke Lakota
Nothing left to lose
Tell me grandfather
You spoke the fur and feather tongues
Do you hear the whimpering waters
When the tractors come?
I am Lakota
Brave
Sun pity me
I am Lakota
Broken
Moon pity me
I am Lakota
Grave
Shadows stretching
Lakota
Oh, pity me
I am Lakota
Weak
Grass pity me
I am Lakota
Faithful
Rocks pity me
I am Lakota
Meek
Standing water
Lakota
Oh, pity me
Sun pity me
Mother Earth
Mother
Moon pity me
Father sky
Father
Shadows
Stretching on the forest floor
Mother Earth
Oh, pity me
Father sky
Father
Grass pity me
Mother Earth
Mother
Rocks pity me
Father sky
Father
Water
Standing in a waken manner
Mother Earth
Oh, pity me
Father sky
Father
Sun pity me
Mother Earth
Mother
Moon pity me
Father sky
Father
Shadows
Stretching on the forest floor
Mother Earth
Oh, pity me
Father sky
Father
Grass pity me
Mother Earth
Mother
Rocks pity me
Father sky
He's so independent
He acts like he couldn't care less for us all
He's someone's descendent
Their child
But he'll never acknowledge their call
He's afraid to be loved
And I know he's afraid not to be
And he'll laugh and he'll cry
and someday he'll die
Just like me
Just like me
He's settling a score
With a world
That wants a reason
Every time you turn around
Just like me
He's looking for a door
Standing open, saying welcome
Come and lay your troubles down
Just like me
He'll drop his pretenses
You'll see through the stone to the heart of the man
But the moment he senses you've seen him
He'll leave you as fast as he can
He'll return to his shadows
Where no one can look in and see
And he'll wake in the night
And he'll cry like a child
Just like me
Just like me
He's settling a score
With a world that wants a reason
Every time you turn around
Just like me
He's looking for a door
Standing open, saying welcome
Come and lay your troubles down
Just like me
I've seen him look hungry for someone
To tell him "You're doing just fine"
The songs that he's sung me
Have loneliness woven between every line
With no strings to hold him
I guess he could call himself free
Yes, he's free to be empty and lonely and wrong
Just like me
Just like me
He's settling a score
With a world that wants a reason
Every time you turn around
Just like me
He's looking for a door
Standing open, saying welcome
Come and lay your troubles down
No tongue in the bell
And the fishwives yell
But they might as well be mute
So you get to keep the pictures
That don't seem like much
Cold white keys under your fingers
Now you're thinking
"That's no substitute
It just don't do it
Like the song of a warm, warm body
Loving your touch"
In the court they carve your legend
With an apple in its jaw
And the women that you wanted
They get their laughs
Long silk stockings
On the bedposts of refinement
You're to raw
They think you're too raw
It's the judgement of the moon and stars
Your solitary path
Draw yourself a bath
Think what you'd like to have
For supper
Or take a walk
A park
A bridge
A tree
A river
Revoked but not yet cancelled
The gift goes on
In silence
In a bell jar
Still a song...
You've got to shake your fists at lightning now
You've got to roar like forest fire
You've got to spread your light like blazes
All across the sky
They're going to aim the hoses on you
Show them you won't expire
Not till you burn up every passion
Not even when you die
Come on now
You've got to try
If you're feeling contempt
Well then you tell it
If you're tired of the silent night
Jesus, well then you yell it
Condemned to wires and hammers
Strike every chord that you fell
That broken trees
And elephant ivories
Downtown
My darling dimestore thief
In the War of Independence
Rock 'n Roll rang sweet as victory
Under neon signs
A girl was in bloom
And a woman was fading
In a suburban room
I said, "Take me to the dance"
"Do you want to dance?"
"I love to dance"
And I told him, "They don't take chances
They seem so removed from romance"
"They've been broken in churches and schools
And molded to middle class circumstance"
And we were rolling, rolling, rock n' rolling
Downtown
The dance halls and cafes
Feel so wild you could break somebody's heart
Just doing the latest dance craze
Gail and Louise
In those push-up brassieres
Tight dresses and rhinestone rings
Drinking up the band's beers
Young love was kissing under bridges
Kissing in cars, kissing in cafes
And we were walking down Main Street
Kisses like bright flags hung on holidays
"In France they kiss on Main Street"
"Amour, mama, not cheap display"
And we were rolling, rolling, rock n' rolling
Downtown
In the pinball arcade
With his head full of pool hall pitches
And songs from the hit parade
He'd be singing "Bye, Bye, Love"
While he's racking up his free play
Let those rock 'n roll choir boys
Come and carry us away
Sometimes Chickie had the car
Or Ron had a car
Or Lead Foot Melvin with his hot-wire head
We'd all go looking for a party
Looking to raise Jesus up from the dead
And I'd be kissing in the back seat
Thrilling to the Brando-like things that he said
The street was loud
From an angry crowd and
I thought of you, I thought of you
Dreamer
Land of the free
No hungry bellies
Impossible
Impossible dreamer
In the darkest part of the night
Blue shadows conjure you
And in the brightest height of the daylight
Sometimes I blink 'cause I think I see you
Dreaming like you do
The moon was bright
Like day for night
And I thought of you
I thought of you
Dreamer
No acid rain
Love without pain
Impossible
Impossible Dreamer
In the darkest part of the night
Blue shadows conjure you
And at the brightest height of the daylight
Sometimes I blink 'cause I think I see you
Dreaming like you do
The room was dark
And full of sharks
and I thought of you
I thought of you
Dreamer
Give peace a chance
Don't think just dance
Impossible
Impossible dreamer
In the darkest part of the night
Blue shadows conjure you
And at the brightest height of the daylight
Sometimes I blink 'cause I think I see you
Dreaming like you do
Daylight falls upon the path, the forest falls behind
Today I am not prey to dark uncertainty
The shadow trembles in its wrath, I've robbed its blackness blind
And tasted sunlight as my fear came clear to me
I think I understand
Fear is like a wilderland
Stepping stones or sinking sand
Now the way leads to the hills, above the steeple's chime
Below me sleepy rooftops round the harbor
It's there I'll take my thirsty fill of friendship over wine
Forgetting fear but never disregarding her
Oh, I think I understand
Fear is like a wilderland
Stepping stones and sinking sand
Sometimes voices in the night will call me back again
Back along the pathway of a troubled mind
When forests rise to block the light that keeps a traveler sane
I'll challenge them with flashes from a brighter time
Oh, I think I understand
Fear is like a wilderland
Stepping stones or sinking sand
I had a king in a tenement castle
Lately he's taken to painting the pastel walls brown
He's taken the curtains down
He's swept with the broom of contempt
And the rooms have an empty ring
He's cleaned with the tears
Of an actor who fears for the laughter's sting-
(CHORUS)
I can't go back there anymore
You know my keys won't fit the door
You know my thoughts don't fit the man
They never can they never can
I had a king dressed in drip-dry and paisley
Lately he's taken to saying I'm crazy and blind
He lives in another time
Ladies in gingham still blush
While he sings them of wars and wine
But I in my leather and lace
I can never become that kind -
(CHORUS)
I had a king in a salt-rusted carriage
Who carried me off to his country for marriage too soon
Beware of the power of moons
There's no one to blame
No there's no one to name as a traitor here
The king's on the road
And the queen's in the grove till the end of the year-
Funny day, looking for laughter and finding it there
Sunny day, braiding wild flowers and leaves in my hair
Picked up a pencil and wrote "I love you" in my finest hand
Wanted to send it, but I don't know where I stand
Telephone, even the sound of your voice is still new
All alone in California and talking to you
And feeling too foolish and strange to say the words that I had planned
I guess it's too early, 'cause I don't know where I stand
Crickets call, courting their ladies in star-dappled green
Thickets tall, until the morning comes up like a dream
All muted and misty, so drowsy now I'll take what sleep I can
I know that I miss you, but I don't know where I stand
(written by Dan Hartman and Charlie Midnight)
© 1986 EMI Blackwood Music Inc./Janiceps Music BMI/
EMI April Music Inc./Second Nature Music Inc. ASCAP
Hard bodies
Soft emotions
So fast
So smart
The world is at your feet
But what about your heart?
Fame and fortune can't hold you tight
In the late late hours of the night
How do you stop
Before it's too late?
You choose and you lose
If you hesitate
How do you stop
Before it's too late?
You think love will wait
So you don't hold on
And then it's gone
You've had success-
Lots of fancy friends
You've tasted the good life
You thought it would never end
One day you're too young
Then you're in your prime
Then you're looking back at the hands of time
How do you stop
Before it's too late?
You choose and you lose
If you hesitate
How do you stop
Before it's too late?
You think love will wait
So you don't hold on
And then it's gone
How do you stop a runaway train?
How do you stop the driving rain?
How do you stop the ripening corn?
How do you stop a baby being born?
How do you stop
Before it's too late?
You choose and you lose
If you hesitate
How do you stop
Before it's too late?
How do you stop?
You're lost if you hesitate ...
How do you stop
Love from slipping away?
How do you stop
Help me
I think I'm falling
In love again
When I get that crazy feeling, I know
I'm in trouble again
I'm in trouble
'Cause you're a rambler and a gambler
And a sweet-taIking-ladies man
And you love your lovin'
But not like you love your freedom
Help me
I think I'm falling
In love too fast
It's got me hoping for the future
And worrying about the past
'Cause I've seen some hot hot blazes
Come down to smoke and ash
We love our lovin'
But not like we love our freedom
Didn't it feel good
We were sitting there talking
Or lying there not talking
Didn't it feel good
You dance with the lady
With the hole in her stocking
Didn't it feel good
Didn't it feel good
Help me
I think I'm falling
In love with you
Are you going to let me go there by myself
That's such a lonely thing to do
Both of us flirting around
Flirting and flirting
Hurting too
We love our lovin'
When Charlie speaks of Lester
You know someone great has gone
The sweetest swinging music man
Had a Porkie Pig hat on
A bright star
In a dark age
When the bandstands had a thousand ways
Of refusing a black man admission
Black musician
In those days they put him in an
Underdog position
Cellars and chittlins'
When Lester took him a wife
Arm and arm went black and white
And some saw red
And drove them from their hotel bed
Love is never easy
It's short of the hope we have for happiness
Bright and sweet
Love is never easy street!
Now we are black and white
Embracing out in the lunatic New York night
It's very unlikely we'll be driven out of town
Or be hung in a tree
That's unlikely!
Tonight these crowds
Are happy and loud
Children are up dancing in the streets
In the sticky middle of the night
Summer serenade
Of taxi horns and fun arcades
Where right or wrong
Under neon
Every feeling goes on!
For you and me
The sidewalk is a history book
And a circus
Dangerous clowns
Balancing dreadful and wonderful perceptions
They have been handed
Day by day
Generations on down
We came up from the subway
On the music midnight makes
To Charlie's bass and Lester's saxophone
In taxi horns and brakes
Now Charlie's down in Mexico
With the healers
So the sidewalk leads us with music
To two little dancers
Dancing outside a black bar
There's a sign up on the awning
It says "Pork Pie Hat Bar"
And there's black babies dancing...
I have to come and see you--
Maybe once or twice a year--
I think nothing would suit me better
(Right now)
Than some downtown atmosphere ...
In the dance halls and the galleries
Or betting in the OTB
Synchronized--like magic
Good friends you and me
The sun goes down in Jersey
Rises over Little Italy--
We could talk it up 'til the block gets up
Swapping stories
Sitting around in some all night zoo
Watching it run like a movie
Synchronized--like magic
Good friends you and me
No hearts of gold
No nerves of steel
No blame for what we can and cannot feel
But now it's cloak and dagger
Walk on eggshells and analyze
Every particle of difference
Gets like mountains in our eyes
You say, "You're unscrupulous!"
You say, "You're naive!"
Synchronized--like magic
Good friends you and me
No hearts of gold
No nerves of steel
No blame for what we can and cannot feel
Sometimes change comes at you
Like a broadside accident
There is chaos to the order
Random things you can't prevent
There could be trouble around the corner
There could be beauty down the street
Synchronized--like magic
Good friends you and me
No hearts of gold
No nerves of steel
No blame for what we can and cannot feel
No nerves of steel
No hearts of gold
No blame for what we can and can't control
Good friends you and me
Good friends you and me
I heard it in the wind last night
It sounded like applause
Did you get a round resounding for you
Way up here
It seems like many dim years ago
Since I heard that face to face
Or seen you face to face
Thought tonight I can feel you here
I get these notes
On butterflies and lilac sprays
From girls who just have to tell me
They saw you somewhere
In some office sits a poet
And he trembles as he sings
And he asks some guy to circulate his soul around
On your mark red ribbon runner
The caressing rev of motors
Finely tuned like fancy women
In thirties evening gowns
Up the charts
Off to the airport--
Your name's in the news
Everything's first class--
The lights go down--
And its just you up there
Getting them to feel like that
Remember the days when you used to sit
And make up your tunes for love
And pour your simple sorrow
To the soundhole and your knee
And now you're seen on giant screens
And at parties for the press
And for people who have slices of you
From the company
They toss around your latest golden egg
Speculation--well, who's to know
If the next one in the nest
Will glitter for them so
I guess I seem ungrateful
With my teeth sunk in the hand
That brings me things
I really can't give up just yet
Now I sit up here
The critic!
And they introduce some band
But they seem so much confetti
Looking at them on my T.V. set
Oh the power and the glory
Just when you're getting a taste for worship
They start bringing out the hammers
And the boards
And the nails
I heard it in the wind last night
It sounded like applause
Chilly now
End of summer
No more shiny hot nights
It was just the arbutus rustling
And the bumping of the logs
And the moon swept down black water
Everything comes and goes
Marked by lovers and styles of clothes
Things that you held high
And told yourself were true
Lost or changing as the days come down to you
It's down to you
Constant stranger
You're a kind person
You're a cold person too
It's down to you
You go down to the pick up station
Craving warmth and beauty
You settle for less than fascination
A few drinks later you're not so choosy
When the closing lights strip off the shadows
On this strange new flesh you've found
Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf
You hurry
To the blackness
And the blankets
To lay down an impression
And your loneliness
In the morning there are lovers in the street
They look so high
You brush against a stranger
And you both apologize
Old friends seem indifferent
You must have brought that on
Old bonds have broken down
Love is gone
Ooh, love is gone
Written on your spirit this sad song
Love is gone
Everything comes and goes
Pleasure moves on too early
And trouble leaves too slow
Just when you're thinking
You've finally got it made
Bad news comes knocking
At your garden gate
Knocking for you
Constant stranger
You're a brute-you're an angel
You can crawl-you can fly too
It's down to you
Don't interrupt the sorrow
Darn right
In flames our prophet witches
Be polite
A room full of glasses
He says "Your notches liberation doll"
And he chains me with that serpent
To that Ethiopian wall
Anima rising
Queen of Queens
Wash my guilt of Eden
Wash and balance me
Anima rising
Uprising in me tonight
She's a vengeful little goddess
With an ancient crown to fight
Truth goes up in vapors
The steeples lean
Winds of change patriarchs
Snug in your bible belt dreams
God goes up the chimney
Like childhood Santa Claus
The good slaves love the good book
A rebel loves a cause
I'm leaving on the 1:15
You're darn right
Since I was seventeen
I've had no one over me
He says "Anima rising-
So what-
Petrified wood process
Tall timber down to rock!"
Don't interrupt the sorrow
Darn right
He says "We walked on the moon
You be polite."
Don't let up the sorrow
Death and birth and death and birth and death and birth
He says "Bring that bottle kindly
And I'll pad your purse-
I've got a head full of quandary
And a mighty, mighty, thirst."
Seventeen glasses
Rhine wine
Milk of the Madonna
Clandestine
He don't let up the sorrow
He lies and he cheats
It takes a heart like Mary's these days
No, you couldn't call Jesse a babe in the woods
He's just weak in self-defense
'Cause he's so thin skinned
He can't take a joke at his expense
"You're a push down window," says Rowdy Yates
"I can run you up and down
Anytime I want
I can make you my dancin'--
My dancin' clown!"
You're my dancin' clown
Dancin' dancin'
My dancin' clown
Dancin'
You're my dancin' clown
Dancin' dancin' dancin'
My dancin' clown
Rowdy Yates is as bold as Jove--
He's all chide and snide and bluff--
Stuck in the romantic tradition
Of acting rough and tough
"You're always charging thru," says Jesse
Nervous, lookin' all around--
To see who's seein' him bein' a dancin'
A dancin' clown
He's a dancin' clown
Dancin' dancin'
A dancin' clown
Dancin'
He's a dancin' clown
Dancin' dancin' dancin'
A dancin' clown
Cherchez la femme
Whenever love comes around
Someone's a dancin' clown
Cherchez la femme
Whenever hearts start to pound
Someone's a dancin' clown
Down the street comes last-word Suzie--
She's high yellow--lookin' top nice
You hear the swoosh of jungle blades
And the crackle of northern ice
"Hot damn!" says Rowdy--lookin' up
"Yum!" says Jesse lookin' down
"How would you like to be her dancin'
Her dancin' clown?"
Be her dancin' clown
Dancin' dancin'
Her dancin' clown
Dancin'
Be her dancin' clown
Dancin' dancin' dancin'
Her dancin' clown
Cherchez la femme
Whenever love comes to town
Someone's a dancin' clown
Cherchez la femme
Wherever hearts start to pound
Someone's a dancin' clown
There's a man who's been out sailing
In a decade full of dreams
And he takes her to a schooner
And he treats her like a queen
Bearing beads from California
With their amber stones and green
He has called her from the harbor
He has kissed her with his freedom
He has heard her off to starboard
In the breaking and the breathing
Of the water weeds
While she was busy being free
There's a man who's climbed a mountain
And he's calling out her name
And he hopes her heart can hear three thousand miles
He calls again
He can think her there beside him
He can miss her just the same
He has missed her in the forest
While he showed her all the flowers
And the branches sang the chorus
As he climbed the scaley towers
Of a forest tree
While she was somewhere being free
There's a man who's sent a letter
And he's waiting for reply
He has asked her of her travels
Since the day they said goodbye
He writes, "Wish you were beside me
We can make it if we try"
He has seen her at the office
With her name on all his papers
Through the sharing of the profits
He will find it hard to shake her
From his memory
And she's so busy being free
There's a lady in the city
And she thinks she loves them all
There's the one who's thinking of her
There's the one who sometimes calls
There's the one who writes her letters
With his facts and figures scrawl
She has brought them to her senses
They have laughed inside her laughter
Now she rallies her defenses
For she fears that one will ask her
For eternity
And she's so busy being free
There's a man who sends her medals
He is bleeding from the war
There's a jouster and a jester and a man who owns a store
There's a drummer and a dreamer
And you know there may be more
She will love them when she sees them
They will lose her if they follow
And she only means to please them
And her heart is full and hollow
Like a cactus tree
While she's so busy being free
Like a cactus tree
No regrets, Coyote.
We just come from such different sets of circumstance.
I'm up all night in the studios
And you're up early on your ranch.
You'll be brushing out a brood mare's tail
While the sun is ascending,
And I'll just be getting home with my reel to reel...
There's no comprehending
Just how close to the bone, and the skin, and the eyes, and the lips you can get -
And still feel so alone.
And still feel related
Like stations in some relay.
You're not a, a hit and run driver, no, no,
Racing away.
You just picked up a hitcher,
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway.
We saw a farmhouse burning down
In the middle of the road,
Where in the middle of the night,
We rolled right past that tragedy
Till we pulled into some road house lights
Where a local band was playing.
Locals were up kicking and shaking on the floor.
The next thing I know
That Coyote's at my door.
He pins me in a corner and he won't take "No!".
He drags me out on the dance floor
And we're dancing close and slow.
Now he's got a woman at home.
He's got another woman down the hall.
He seems to want me anyway:
"Why'd you have to get so drunk and
Lead me on that way?'".
You just picked up a hitcher,
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway.
I looked a Coyote right in the face
On the road to Baljennie near my old home town.
He went runnin' through the whisker wheat
Chasing some prize down.
And a hawk was playing with him.
Coyote was jumping straight up and making passes.
He had those same eyes just like yours -
Under your dark glasses,
Privately probing the public rooms,
Peeking through keyholes in numbered doors
Where the players lick their wounds,
And take their temporary lovers
And their pills and powders to get them through this passion play.
No regrets, Coyote,
I just get off up away.
You just picked up a hitcher,
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway.
Coyote's in the coffee shop.
He's staring a hole in his scrambled eggs.
And he picks up my scent on his fingers
While he's watching a waitresses' legs.
He's too far from the Bay of Fundy
From appaloosas and eagles and tides.
The air conditioned cubicles and the carbon ribbon rides
Are spelling it out so clear:
Either he's going to have to stand and fight,
Or take off out of here.
I tried to run away myself,
To run away and wrestle with my ego -
And with this flame you put here in this Eskimo -
In this hitcher -
In this prisoner -
Of the fine white lines -
Of the white lines -
Back in 1957
We had to dance a foot apart
And they hawk-eyed us from the sidelines
Holding their rulers without a heart
And so with just a touch of our fingers
I could make our circuitry explode
All we ever wanted
Was just to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(we were so young)
Oh come in
Come in from the cold
We really thought we had a purpose
We were so anxious to achieve
We had hope
The world held promise
For a slave to liberty
Freely I slaved away for something better
And I was bought and sold
And all I ever wanted
Was just to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(we were so sure)
Oh come in
Come in from the cold
I feel your leg under the table
Leaning into mine
I feel renewed
I feel disabled
By these bonfires in my spine
I don't know who the arsonist was
Which incendiary soul
But all I ever wanted
Was just to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(you were so warm)
Oh come in
Come in from the cold
I am not some stone commission
Like a statue in a park
I am flesh and blood and vision
I am howling in the dark
Long blue shadows of the jackals
Are falling on a pay phone by the road
Oh all they ever wanted
Was just to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(I was so low)
Oh come in
Come in from the cold
Is this just vulgar electricity
Is this the edifying fire
(it was so pure)
Does your smile's covert complicity
Debase as it admires
(just a flu with a temperature)
Are you just checking out your mojo
(oohoo)
Or am I just fighting off growing old
(just a high fever)
All I ever wanted
Was just to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(it was so pure)
Oh come in
Come in from the cold
I know we never will be perfect
Never entirely clear
(when the moon shines)
We get hurt and we just panic
And we strike out
Out of fear
(you were only being kind)
I fear the sentence of this solitude
200 years on hold
(for my loving crime)
Oh and all we ever wanted
Was just to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(when the moon shines)
Oh come in
Come in from the cold
When I thought life had some meaning
Then I thought I had some choice
(I was running blind)
And I made some value judgments
In a self-important voice
(I was outa line)
But then absurdity came over me
And I longed to lose control
(into no mind)
Oh all I ever wanted
Was just to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(you were so kind)
Please come in
(so kind)
Come in from the cold
Come in come in
Cold Blue Steel out of money
One eye for the beat police
Sweet Fire calling
"You can't deny me
Now you know what you need"
Underneath the jungle gym
Hollow-grey-fire-escape-thief
Looking for Sweet Fire
Shadow of Lady Release
"Come with me
I know the way" she says
"It's down, down, down the dark ladder
Do you want to contact somebody first
Leave someone a letter
You can come now
Or you can come later"
A wristwatch, a ring, a downstairs screamer
Edgy-black cracks of the sky
"Pin-cushion-prick-
Fix this poor bad dreamer!"
"Money" cold shadows reply
Pawnshops crisscrossed and padlocked
Corridors spit on prayers and pleas
Sparks fly up from Sweet Fire
Black soot of Lady Release
"Come with me
I know the way" she says
"It's down, down, down the dark ladder
Do you want to contact somebody first
Does it really matter
If you come now
Or if you come on later?"
Red water in the bathroom sink
Fever and the scum brown bowl
Blue Steel still begging
But it's indistinct
Someone's Hi-Fi drumming Jelly Roll
Concrete concentration camp
Bashing in veins for peace
Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire
Fall into Lady Release
"Come with me I know the way" she says
"It's down, down, down the dark ladder
Do you want to contact somebody first
I mean what does it really matter
You're going to come now
Sitting in a park in paris, france
Reading the news and it sure looks bad
They wont give peace a chance
That was just a dream some of us had
Still a lot of lands to see
But I wouldnt want to stay here
Its too old and cold and settled in its ways here
Oh, but california
California Im coming home
Im going to see the folks I dig
Ill even kiss a sunset pig
California Im coming home
I met a redneck on a grecian isle
Who did the goat dance very well
He gave me back my smile
But he kept my camera to sell
Oh the rogue, the red red rogue
He cooked good omelettes and stews
And I might have stayed on with him there
But my heart cried out for you, california
Oh california Im coming home
Oh make me feel good rockn roll band
Im your biggest fan
California, Im coming home
Chorus:
Oh it gets so lonely
When youre walking
And the streets are full of strangers
All the news of home you read
Just gives you the blues
Just gives you the blues
So I bought me a ticket
I caught a plane to spain
Went to a party down a red dirt road
There were lots of pretty people there
Reading rolling stone, reading vogue
They said, how long can you hang around?
I said a week, maybe two,
Just until my skin turns brown
Then Im going home to california
California Im coming home
Oh will you take me as I am
Strung out on another man
California Im coming home
Chorus:
Oh it gets so lonely
When youre walking
And the streets are full of strangers
All the news of home you read
More about the war
And the bloody changes
Oh will you take me as l am?
Will you take me as l am?
If there's one rule to this game
Everybody's gonna name
It's, be cool!
If you're worried or uncertain
If your feelings are hurtin'
You're a fool if you can't keep cool
Charm 'em
Don't alarm 'em
Keep things light
Keep your worries out of sight
And play it cool
Play it cool
Fifty-fifty
Fire and ice
If your heart is on the floor
Cause you've just seen your lover
Comin' through the door with a new fool--
Be cool
Don't get riled
Smile-keep it light
Be your own best friend tonight
And play it cool
Play it cool
Fifty-fifty
Fire and ice
Don't get jealous
Don't get over-zealous
Keep your cool
Don't whine
Kiss of that flaky valentine
You're nobody's fool
Be cool fool
Be cool
(Lots of other fish in the sea)
Play it cool
Play it cool
Fifty-fifty
Fire and ice
So if there's one rule to this game
Everybody's gonna name
It's--be cool
If you're worried or uncertain
If your feelings are hurtin'
You're a fool if you can't keep cool
They want you to
Charm 'em
Don't alarm 'em
Keep things light
Keep your worries out of sight
And play it cool
Play it cool
Fifty-fifty
The rain slammed hard as bars
It caught me--by surprise
Mutts of the planet
And shook me down for alibis
I'm waiting
For the keeper to release me
Debating this sentence
Biding my time
In memories
Of old friends of mine ...
In daydreams of Birdland
I see my soul on fire
Burning up the bandstand
Next time
I'll be bigger!
I'll be better than ever!
I'll be happily attached
To my cold hard cash!
But now Manhattan holds me
To a chair in the sky
With the bird in my ears
And boats in my eyes
Going by
There are things I wish I'd done
Some friends I'm gonna miss
Beautiful lovers
I never got the chance to kiss...
Daydreamin' drugs the pain of living
Processions of missing
Lovers and friends
Fade in and they fade out again
In these daydreams of rebirth
I see myself in style
Raking in what I'm worth
Next time
I'll be bigger!
I'll be better than ever!
I'll be resurrected royal!
I'll be rich as standard oil!
But now--Manhattan holds me
To a chair in the sky
With the bird in my ears
And boats in my eyes
![Joni Mitchell - In Concert (live at the BBC 1970) [720p]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130719032023im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/H5XToHSITH4/default.jpg "Joni Mitchell - In Concert (live at the BBC 1970) [720p]")
![Joni Mitchell - Ladies Of The Canyon 1970 [Full Album]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130719032023im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VkpENl0gRPM/default.jpg "Joni Mitchell - Ladies Of The Canyon 1970 [Full Album]")
![Joni Mitchell - Hejira 1976 [Full Album]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130719032023im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HBMAlL33NSk/default.jpg "Joni Mitchell - Hejira 1976 [Full Album]")
![Joni Mitchell - Clouds 1969 [Full Album]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130719032023im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DWgbfJYtpnY/default.jpg "Joni Mitchell - Clouds 1969 [Full Album]")
![Joni Mitchell - The Hissing Of Summer Lawns 1975 [Full Album]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130719032023im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wXbimgs9WJA/default.jpg "Joni Mitchell - The Hissing Of Summer Lawns 1975 [Full Album]")
![Joni Mitchell - Song To A Seagull 1967 [Full Album]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130719032023im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qO6A2SYhIPs/default.jpg "Joni Mitchell - Song To A Seagull 1967 [Full Album]")
![Joni Mitchell - For The Roses 1972 [Full Album]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130719032023im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UcdHWxROmQc/default.jpg "Joni Mitchell - For The Roses 1972 [Full Album]")
