Dancing In The Dark
Darkness On The Edge
Of Town
Darlington County
Does This Bus Stop
At 82nd Street?
Downbound Train
Drive All Night
Dry Lightning
Factory
Fade Away
Fire
For You
Galveston Bay
Gloria's Eyes
Glory Days
Growin' Up
Highway Patrolman
Highway 99
Human Touch
Hungry Heart
If I Should Fall Behind
I'm A Rocker
I'm On Fire
I'm Goin' Down
Independence Day
It's Hard To
Be A Saint In The City
I Wanna Marry You
I Wish I Were Blind
Jackson Cage
Jersey Girl
Johnny 99
Jungleland
Leap Of Faith
Light Of Day
Living Proof
Local Hero
Lost In The Flood
Lucky Town
I get up in the evening
And I ain’t got nothing to say
I come home in the morning
I go to bed feeling the same way
I ain’t nothing but tired
Man, I’m just tired and bored with myself
Hey there baby I could use just a little help
You can’t start a fire
You can’t start a fire without a spark
This gun’s for hire
Even if we’re just dancing in the dark
Message keeps getting clearer
Radio’s on and I’m moving ’round the place
I check my look in the mirror
I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face
Man, I ain’t getting nowhere just living in a
dump like this
There’s something happening somewhere
Baby I just know that there is
You can’t start a fire
You can’t start a fire without a spark
This gun’s for hire
Even if we’re just dancing in the dark
You sit around getting older
There’s a joke here somewhere and it’s on me
I’ll shake this world off my shoulders
Come on baby the laugh’s on me
Stay on the streets of this town
And they’ll be carving you up all right
They say you gotta stay hungry
Hey baby I’m just about starving tonight
I’m dying for some action
I’m sick of sitting ’round here trying to write
this book
I need a love reaction
Come on now baby gimme just one look
You can’t start a fire sitting ’round crying over
a broken heart
This gun’s for hire
Even if we’re just dancing in the dark
You can’t start a fire worrying about your little
world falling apart
This gun’s for hire
They’re still racing out at the Trestles,
But that blood it never burned in her veins,
Now I hear she’s got a house up in Fairview,
And a style she’s trying to maintain.
Well, if she wants to see me,
You can tell her that I’m easily found,
Tell her there’s a spot out ’neath Abram’s Bridge,
And tell her, there’s a darkness on the edge of town.
Everybody’s got a secret, Sonny,
Something that they just can’t face,
Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it,
They carry it with them every step that they take.
Till some day they just cut it loose
Cut it loose or let it drag ’em down,
Where no one asks any questions,
or looks too long in your face,
In the darkness on the edge of town.
Some folks are born into a good life,
Other folks get it anyway, anyhow,
I lost my money and I lost my wife,
Them things don’t seem to matter much to me now.
Tonight I’ll be on that hill ’cause I can’t stop,
I’ll be on that hill with everything I got,
Lives on the line where dreams are found and lost,
I’ll be there on time and I’ll pay the cost,
For wanting things that can only be found
In the darkness on the edge of town.
Driving in to Darlington County
Me and Wayne on the Fourth of July
Driving in to Darlington County
Looking for some work on the county line
We drove down from New York City where the girls are pretty but they
just want to know your name
Driving in to Darlington City
Got a union connection with an uncle of Wayne’s
We drove eight-hundred miles without seeing a cop
We got rock and roll music blasting off the t-top singing
Sha la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la
Sha la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la
Hey little girl standing on the corner
Today’s your lucky day for sure all right
Me and my buddy we’re from New York City
We got $200, we want to rock all night
Girl, you’re looking at two big spenders
Why the world don’t know what me and Wayne might do
Our pa’s each own one of the World Trade Centers
For a kiss and a smile I’ll give mine all to you
Come on baby take a seat on my fender
It’s a long night and tell me what else were you gonna do
Just me and you, we could sha la la
Little girl sitting in the window
Ain’t seen my buddy in seven days
County man tells me the same thing
He don’t work and he don’t get paid
Little girl you’re so young and pretty
Walk with me and you can have your way
And we’ll leave this Darlington City for a ride down that Dixie Highway
Driving out of Darlington County
My eyes seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
Driving out of Darlington County seen Wayne handcuffed to the bumper
of a state trooper’s Ford
Sha la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la
Sha la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la
Sha la la
Sha la la la
Sha la la la la la la
DOES THIS BUS STOP AT 82ND STREET?
Hey bus driver keep the change, bless your children, give them names
don’t trust men who walk with canes
drink this and you’ll grow wings on your feet
Broadway Mary, Joan Fontaine, advertiser on a downtown train
Christmas crier bustin’ cane, he’s in love again.
Where dock worker’s dreams mix with panther’s schemes to someday own
the rodeo
Tainted women in Vistavision perform for out-of-state kids at the late
show.
Wizard imps and sweat sock pimps, interstellar mongrel nymphs
Rex said that lady left him limp. Love’s like that (sure it is).
Queen of diamonds, ace of spades, newly discovered lovers of the everglades
They take out a full page ad in the trades to announce their arrival
And Mary Lou she found out how to cope, she rides to heaven on a gyroscope
The Daily News asks her for the dope
She says, "Man, the dope’s that there’s still hope."
Señorita, Spanish rose, wipes her eyes and blows her nose
Uptown in Harlem she throws a rose to some lucky, young matador.
I had a job, I had a girl
I had something going mister in this world
I got laid off down at the lumber yard
Our love went bad, times got hard
Now I work down at the carwash, where all it ever does is rain
Don’t you feel like you’re a rider on a downbound train
She just said "Joe I gotta go, we had it once we ain’t got it anymore"
She packed her bags left me behind
She bought a ticket on the Central Line
Nights as I sleep, I hear that whistle whining
I feel her kiss in the misty rain
And I feel like I’m a rider on a downbound train
Last night I heard your voice
You were crying, crying
You were so alone
You said your love had never died
You were waiting for me at home
Put on my jacket, I ran through the woods
I ran till I thought my chest would explode
There in the clearing, beyond the highway, in the moonlight, our wedding
house shone
I rushed through the yard
I burst through the front door
My head pounding hard
Up the stairs I climbed, the room was dark, our bed was empty
Then I heard that long whistle whine and I dropped to my knees, hung
my head and cried
Now I swing a sledge hammer on a railroad gang knocking down them cross
ties; working in the rain
Now don’t it feel like you’re a rider on a downbound train
When I lost you honey sometimes I think I lost my guts too
And I wish God would send me a word send me something I’m afraid to
lose
Lying in the heat of the night like prisoners all our lives
I get shivers down my spine and all I wanna do is hold you tight
I swear I’ll drive all night just to buy you some shoes
And to taste your tender charms
And I just wanna sleep tonight again in your arms
Tonight there’s fallen angels and they’re waiting for us down in the
street
Tonight there’s calling strangers, hear them crying in defeat.
Let them go, let them go, let them go do their dances of the dead (let
’em go right ahead)
You just dry your eyes girl, and c’mon c’mon c’mon let’s go to bed,
baby, baby, baby
I swear I’ll drive all night just to buy you some shoes
And to taste your tender charms
And I just wanna sleep tonight again in your arms
There’s machines and there’s fire waiting on the edge of town
They’re out there for hire but baby they can’t hurt us now
Cause you’ve got, you’ve got, you’ve got, you’ve got my love, you’ve
got my love
Through the wind, through the rain, the snow, the wind, the rain
You’ve got, you’ve got my, my love heart and soul
I threw my robe on in the morning
Watched the ring on the stove turn red
Stared hypnotized into a cup of coffee
Pulled on my boots and made the bed
Screen door hangin’ off its hinges
Kept bangin’ me awake all night
As I look out the window
The only thing in sight
Is dry lightning on the horizon line
Just dry lightning and you on my mind.
I chased the heat of her blood
Like it was the holy grail
Descend beautiful spirit
Into the evening pale
Her appaloosa’s
Kickin’ in the corral smelling rain
There’s a low thunder rolling
’Cross the mesquite plain
But there’s just dry lightning on the horizon line
It’s just dry lightning and you on my mind
I’d drive down to Alvarado Street
Where she’d dance to make ends meet
I’d spend the night over my gin
As she’d talk to her men
Well the piss yellow sun
Comes bringin’ up the day
She said "Ain’t nobody can give nobody
What they really need anyway."
Well you get so sick of the fightin’
You lose your fear of the end
But I can’t lose your memory
And the sweet smell of your skin
And it’s just dry lightning on the horizon line
Just dry lightning and you on my mind
Early in the morning factory whistle blows,
Man rises from bed and puts on his clothes,
Man takes his lunch, walks out in the morning light,
It’s the working, the working, just the working life.
Through the mansions of fear, through the mansions of pain,
I see my daddy walking through them factory gates in the rain,
Factory takes his hearing, factory gives him life,
The working, the working, just the working life.
End of the day, factory whistle cries,
Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes.
And you just better believe, boy,
somebody’s gonna get hurt tonight,
It’s the working, the working, just the working life.
Well now you say you’ve found another man who does things to you that
I can’t
And that no matter what I do it’s all over now between me and you girl
But I can’t believe what you say
No I can’t believe what you say
’cause baby
I don’t wanna fade away
Oh I don’t wanna fade away
Tell me what can I do what can I say
Cause darlin’ I don’t wanna fade away
Well now you say that you’ve made up your mind it’s been such a long,
long time since it’s been
good with us
And that somewhere back along the line you lost your love and I lost
your trust
Now rooms that once were so bright are filled with the coming night,
darlin’
I don’t wanna fade away
Oh I don’t wanna fade away
Tell me what can I do what can I say
Cause darlin’ I don’t wanna fade away
You say it’s not easy for you
And that you’ve been so lonely
While other girls go out doing what they want to do
You say that you miss the nights when we’d go out dancing
The days when you and I walked as two
Well girl I miss them too
Oh I swear that I do
Oh girl
Now baby I don’t wanna be just another useless memory holding you tight
Or just some other ghost out on the street to whom you stop and politely
speak when you pass on by
vanishing into the night
left to vanish into he night
No baby
I don’t wanna fade away
Oh I don’t wanna fade away
Tell me what can I do what can I say
Cause darlin’ I don’t wanna fade away
I’m driving in my car
I turn on the radio
I’m pulling you close
You just say no
You say you don’t like it
But girl I know you’re a liar
’Cause when we kiss
Fire
Late at night
I’m takin’ you home
I say I wanna stay
You say you wanna be alone
You say you don’t love me
Girl you can’t hide your desire
’Cause when we kiss
Fire
You had a hold on me
Right from the start
A grip so tight
I couldn’t tear it apart
My nerves all jumpin’
Actin’ like a fool
Well your kisses they burn
But your heart stays cool
Romeo and Juliet
Samson and Delilah
Baby you can bet
Their love they didn’t deny
Your words say split
But your words they lie
’Cause when we kiss
Fire
Princess cards she sends me with her regards
barroom eyes shine vacancy, to see her you gotta look hard
Wounded deep in battle, I stand stuffed like some soldier undaunted
To her Cheshire smile. I’ll stand on file, she’s all I ever wanted.
But you let your blue walls get in the way of these facts
honey, get your carpetbaggers off my back
you wouldn’t even give me time to cover my tracks,
You said, "Here’s your mirror and your ball and jacks." But they’re
not what I came for, and I’m
sure you see that too
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but you did not need my urgency
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but your life was one long
emergency
and your cloud line urges me, and my electric surges free.
Crawl into my ambulance, your pulse is getting weak,
reveal yourself all now to me girl while you’ve got the strength to
speak
Cause they’re waiting for you at Bellevue with their oxygen masks
But I could give it all to you now if only you could ask.
And don’t call for your surgeon even he says it’s too late
It’s not your lungs this time, it’s your heart that holds your fate
Don’t give me money, honey, I don’t want it back
you and your pony face and your union jack
well take your local joker and teach him how to act
I swear I was never that way even when I really cracked
Didn’t you think I knew that you were born with the power of a locomotive
able to leap tall buildings in a single bound ?
And your Chelsea suicide with no apparent motive
you could laugh and cry in a single sound.
And your strength is devastating in the face of all these odds
Remember how I kept you waiting when it was my turn to be the god ?
You were not quite half so proud when I found you broken on the beach
Remember how I poured salt on your tongue and hung just out of reach
And the band they played the homecoming theme as I caressed your cheek
They ragged, jagged melody she still clings to me like a leech.
But that medal you wore on your chest always got in the way
like a little girl with a trophy so soft to buy her way
We were both hitchhikers but you had your ear tuned to the roar
of some metal-tempered engine on an alien, distant shore
So you, left to find a better reason than the one we were living for
and it’s not that nursery mouth I came back for,
It’s not the way you’re stretched out on the floor
cause I’ve broken all your windows and I’ve rammed through all your
doors
And who am I to ask you to lick my sores ?
And you should know that’s true...
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but you did not need my urgency
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but your life was one long
emergency
and your cloud line urges me, and my electric surges free.
For fifteen years Le Bin Son
Fought side by side with the Americans
In the mountains and deltas of Vietnam
In ’75 Saigon fell and he left his command
And brought his family to the promised land
Seabrook, Texas and the small towns in the Gulf of Mexico
It was delta country and reminded him of home
He worked as a machinist, put his money away
And bought a shrimp boat with his cousin
And together they harvested Galveston Bay
In the mornin’ ’fore the sun come up
He’d kiss his sleepin’ daughter
Steer out through the channel
And cast his nets into the water
Billy Sutter fought with Charlie Company
In the highlands of Quang Tri
He was wounded in the battle of Chu Lai
Shipped home in ’68
There he married and worked the gulf fishing grounds
In a boat that’d been his father’s
In the morning he’d kiss his sleeping son
And cast his nets into the water
Billy sat in front of his TV as the South fell
And the communists rolled into Saigon
He and his friends watched as the refugees came
Settled on the same streets and worked the coast they’d grew up on
Soon in the bars around the harbor was talk
Of America for Americans
Someone said "You want ’em out, you got to burn ’em out."
And brought in the Texas Klan
One humid Texas night there were three shadows on the harbor
Come to burn the Vietnamese boats into the sea
In the fire’s light shots rang out
Two Texans lay dead on the ground
Le stood with a pistol in his hand
A jury acquitted him in self-defense
As before the judge he did stand
But as Le walked down the courthouse steps
Billy said "My friend you’re a dead man."
One late summer night Le stood watch along the waterside
Billy stood in the shadows
His K-bar knife in his hand
And the moon slipped behind the clouds
Le lit a cigarette, the bay was still as glass
As he walked by Billy stuck his knife into his pocket
Took a breath and let him pass
In the early darkness Billy rose up
Went into the kitchen for a drink of water
Kissed his sleeping wife
Headed into the channel
And cast his nets into the water
Of Galveston Bay
I was your big man I was your prince charming
King on a white horse hey now look how far I’ve fallen
I tried to trick you yeah but baby you got wise
You cut me cut me right right down to size
Now I’m just a fool in Gloria’s eyes
Swore I’d get you back I was so sure
I’d get you back life I done so many times before
A little sweet talk to cover over all of the lies
You came runnin’ back but to my surprise
Well there was somethin’ gone in Gloria’s eyes
Well in the dark when it was just me and you
I asked the question that I knew the answer to
Is that a smile my little dolly on the shelf
Tell me is that a smile
Or is it somethin’ else ?
Now I work hard to prove my love is true
Now I work hard and I bring it on home to you
At night I pray as silently you lie
Some day my love again will rise
Like a shining torch in Gloria’s eyes
I was your big man I was your prince charming
King on a white horse now look how far I’ve fallen
I had a friend was a big baseball player back in high school
He could throw that speedball by you
Make you look like a fool boy
Saw him the other night at this roadside bar I was walking in and he
was walking out
We went back inside sat down, had a few drinks but all he kept talking
about was
Glory days well they’ll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days
There’s a girl that lives up the block back in school she could turn
all the boys’ heads
Sometimes on a Friday I’ll stop by and have a few drinks after she
put her kids to bed
Her and her husband Bobby well they split up
I guess it’s two years gone by now
We just sit around talking about the old times, she says when she feels
like crying she starts laughing
thinking about
Glory days well they’ll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days
Think I’m going down to the well tonight and I’m going to drink till
I get my fill
And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it but
I probably will
Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture a little of the glory of,
but time slips away and leaves you
with nothing mister but boring stories of glory days
Glory days well they’ll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days
I stood stone-like at midnight suspended in my masquerade
I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked
crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and come out with my soul
untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said "Sit down,"
I stood up.
Ooh... growin’ up
The flag of piracy flew from my mast, my sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for first mate, she couldn’t sail but she
sure could sing,
I pushed B-52 and bombed ’em with the blues with my gear set stubborn
on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave
thought to landing,
I hid in the clouded warmth of the crowd but when they said, "Come
down," I threw up,
Ooh... growin’ up.
I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere and you know it’s really
hard to hold your breath.
I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic
kid in full costume dress,
Well, my feet they finally took root in the earth but I got me a nice
little place in the stars
And I swear I found the key to the universe in the engine of an old
parked car
I hid in the mother breast of the crowd but when they said, "Pull down,"
I pulled up
Ooh... growin’ up. Ooh... growin’ up
My name is Joe Roberts I work for the state
I’m a sergeant out of Perrineville barracks number 8
I always done an honest job as honest as I could
I got a brother named Franky and Franky ain’t no good
Now ever since we was young kids it’s been the same come down
I get a call over the radio Franky’s in trouble downtown
Well if it was any other man, I’d put him straight away
But when it’s your brother sometimes you look the other way
Me and Franky laughin’ and drinkin’ nothin’ feels better than blood
on blood
Takin’ turns dancin’ with Maria as the band played "Night of the Johnstown
Flood"
I catch him when he’s strayin’ like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain’t no good
Well Franky went in the army back in 1965 I got a farm deferment settled
down took Maria for my
wife
But them wheat prices kept on droppin’ till it was like we were gettin’
robbed
Franky came home in ’68 and me I took this job
Yea we’re laughin’ and drinkin’ nothin’ feels better than blood on blood
Takin’ turns dancin’ with Maria as the band played "Night of the Johnstown
Flood"
I catch him when he’s strayin’, teach him how to walk that line
Man turns his back on his family he ain’t no friend of mine
The night was like any other, I got a call ’bout quarter to nine
There was trouble in a roadhouse out on the Michigan line
There was a kid lyin’ on the floor lookin’ bad, bleedin’ hard from
his head there was a girl cryin’ at a
table, it was Frank they said
Well I went out and I jumped in my car and I hit the lights
I must of done 110 through Michigan county that night
It was out at the crossroads down round Willow bank
Seen a Buick with Ohio plates behind the wheel was Frank
Well I chased him through them county roads till a sign said Canadian
border 5 miles from here
I pulled over the side of the highway and watched his taillights disappear
Me and Franky laughin’ and drinkin’ nothin’ feels better than blood
on blood
Takin’ turns dancin’ with Maria as the band played "Night of the Johnstown
Flood"
I catch him when he’s strayin’ like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain’t no good
I slipped on her shoe, she was a perfect size seven
I said "There’s no smokin’ in the store ma’am."
She crossed her legs and then
We made some small talk that’s where it should have stopped
She slipped me her number, I put it in my pocket
My hand slipped up her skirt, everything slipped my mind
In that little roadhouse
On Highway 29
It was a small town bank it was a mess
Well I had a gun you know the rest
Money on the floorboards, shirt was covered in blood
And she was cryin’, her and me we headed south
On Highway 29
In a little desert motel the air was hot and clean
I slept the sleep of the dead, I didn’t dream
I woke in the morning, washed my face in the sink
We headed into the Sierra Madres ’cross the border line
The winter sun shot through the black trees
I told myself it was all something in her
But as we drove I knew it was something in me
Something that’d been comin’ for a long long time
And something that was here with me now
On Highway 29
The road was filled with broken glass and gasoline
She wasn’t sayin’ nothin’, it was just a dream
The wind come silent through the windshield
All I could see was snow, sky and pines
I closed my eyes and I was runnin’
I was runnin’ then I was flyin’
You and me we were the pretenders
We let it all slip away
In the end what don’t surrender
Well the world just strips away
Girl ain’t no kindness in the face of strangers
Ain’t gonna find no miracles here
Well you can wait on your blessings my darlin’
But I got a deal for you right here
I ain’t lookin’ for prayers or pity
I ain’t comin’ ’round searchin’ for a crutch
I just want someone to talk to
And a little of that human touch
Just a little of that human touch
Ain’t no mercy on the streets of this town
Ain’t no bread from heavenly skies
Ain’t nobody drawin’ wine from this blood
It’s just you and me tonight
Tell me in a world without pity
Do you think what I’m askin’s too much ?
I just want something to hold on to
And a little of that human touch
Just a little of that human touch
Oh girl that feeling of safety you prize
Well it comes with a hard hard price
You can’t shut off the risk and the pain
Without losin’ the love that remains
We’re all riders on this train
So you been broken and you been hurt
Show me somebody who ain’t
Yeah I know I ain’t nobody’s bargain
But hell a little touchup
And a litte paint...
You might need somethin’ to hold on to
When all the answers they don’t amount to much
Somebody that you can just talk to
And a little of that human touch
Baby in a world without pity
Do you think what I’m askin’s too much ?
I just want to feel you in my arms
And share a little of that human touch...
Got a wife and kids in Baltimore Jack
I went out for a ride and I never went back
Like a river that don’t know where it’s flowing
I took a wrong turn and I just kept going
Everybody’s got a hungry heart
Everybody’s got a hungry heart
Lay down your money and you play your part
Everybody’s got a hungry heart
I met her in a Kingstown bar
We fell in love I knew it had to end
We took what we had and we ripped it apart
Now here I am down in Kingstown again
Everybody’s got a hungry heart
Everybody’s got a hungry heart
Lay down your money and you play your part
Everybody’s got a hungry heart
Everybody needs a place to rest
Everybody wants to have a home
Don’t make no difference what nobody says
Ain’t nobody like to be alone
Everybody’s got a hungry heart
Everybody’s got a hungry heart
Lay down your money and you play your part
Everybody’s got a hungry heart
We said we’d walk together baby come what may
That come the twilight should we lose our way
If as we’re walking a hand should slip free
I’ll wait for you
And should I fall behind
Wait for me
We swore we’d travel darlin’ side by side
We’d help each other stay in stride
But each lover’s steps fall so differently
But I’ll wait for you
And if I should fall behind
Wait for me
Now everyone dreams of a love lasting and true
But you and I know what this world can do
So let’s make our steps clear that the other may see
And I’ll wait for you
If I should fall behind
Wait for me
Now there’s a beautiful river in the valley ahead
There ’neath the oak’s bough soon we will be wed
Should we lose each other in the shadow of the evening trees
I’ll wait for you
And should I fall behind
Wait for me
Darlin’ I’ll wait for you
Should I fall behind
Wait for me
I got a 007 watch and it’s a one and only
It’s got a I-Spy beeper that tells me when you’re lonely
I got a Batmobile so I can reach ya’ in a fast shake
When your world’s in crisis of an impendin’ heartbreak
Now don’t you call James Bond or Secret Agent Man
Cause they can’t do it, like I can
I’m a rocker, baby, I’m a rocker - every day
I’m a rocker, baby, I’m a rocker
If you’re hanging from a cliff or you’re tied to the tracks, girl
Columbo split and you can’t find Kojak
True love is broken and your tears are fallin’ faster
You’re sufferin’ from a pain in your heart or some other natural disaster
Now I don’t care what kind of shape you’re in
If they put up a roadblock, I’ll parachute in
I’m a rocker, baby, I’m a rocker - I’m in love
I’m a rocker, baby, I’m a rocker - every day
I’m a rocker, baby, I’m a rocker - with you
So you fell for some jerk who was tall, dark and handsome
Then he kidnapped your heart and now he’s holdin’ it for ransom
Well, like a mission impossible I’m gonna go and get it back
You know I would’a taken better care of it, baby, than that
Sometimes I get so hot girl, well, I can’t talk
But when I’m with you I cool off, and I walk
I’m a rocker, baby, I’m a rocker, and I talk
I’m a rocker, baby, I’m a rocker, every day
I’m a rocker, baby, I’m a rocker, every day
Hey little girl is your daddy home
Did he go away and leave you all alone
I got a bad desire
I’m on fire
Tell me now baby is he good to you
Can do to you the things that I do
I can take you higher
I’m on fire
Sometimes it’s like, someone took a knife baby edgy and dull and cut
a six-inch valley through the
middle of my soul
At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet and a freight train
running through the middle of my
head
Only you can cool my desire
I’m on fire
We sit in the car outside your house
I can feel the heat coming ’round
I go to put my arm around you and you
give me a look like I’m way out of bounds, you let out one of your
bored sighs
Well lately, when I look into your eyes I’m goin’ down
We get dressed up and we go out baby for the night
We come home early burning, burning, burning in some fire fight
I’m sick and tired of your setting me up, setting me up just to knock-a,
knock-a, knock-a me down
I pull you close but when we kiss I can feel a doubt
I remember back when we started, my kisses used to turn you inside
out
I used to drive you to work in the morning
Friday night I’d drive you all around
You used to love to drive me wild
But lately girl you get your kicks from just driving me down
Well Papa go to bed now it’s getting late
Nothing we can say is gonna change anything now
I’ll be leaving in the morning from St. Mary’s Gate
We wouldn’t change this thing even if we could somehow
Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us
There’s a darkness in this town that’s got us too
But they can’t touch me now
And you can’t touch me now
They ain’t gonna do to me
What I watched them do to you
So say goodbye it’s Independence Day
It’s Independence Day
All down the line
Just say goodbye it’s Independence Day
It’s Independence Day this time
Now I don’t know what it always was with us
We chose the words, and yeah, we drew the lines
There was just no way this house could hold the two of us
I guess that we were just too much of the same kind
Well say goodbye it’s Independence Day
It’s Independence Day all boys must run away
So say goodbye it’s Independence Day
All men must make their way come Independence Day
Now the rooms are all empty down at Frankie’s joint
And the highway she’s deserted clear down to Breaker’s Point
There’s a lot of people leaving town now
leaving their friends, their homes
At night they walk that dark and dusty highway all alone
Well Papa go to bed now, it’s getting late
Nothing we can say can change anything now
Because there’s just different people coming down here now and they
see things in different ways
And soon everything we’ve known will just be swept away
So say goodbye it’s Independence Day
Papa now I know the things you wanted that you could not say
But won’t you just say goodbye it’s Independence Day
I swear I never meant to take those things away.
IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY
I had skin like leather and the diamond-hard look of a cobra
I was born blue and weathered but I burst just like a supernova
I could walk like Brando right into the sun
Then dance just like a Casanova
With my blackjack and jacket and hair slicked sweet
Silver star studs on my duds just like a Harley in heat
When I strut down the street I could hear its heart beat
The sisters fell back and said, "Don’t that man look pretty."
The cripple on the corner cried out, "Nickels for your pity."
Them gasoline boys downtown sure talk gritty
It’s so hard to be a saint in the city
I was the king of the alley, mama, I could talk some trash
I was the prince of the paupers crowned downtown at the beggar’s bash
I was the pimp’s main prophet I kept everything cool
Just a backstreet gambler with the luck to lose
And when the heat came down it was left on the ground
The devil appeared like Jesus through the steam in the street
Showin’ me a hand I knew even the cops couldn’t beat
I felt his hot breath on my neck as I dove into the heat
It’s so hard to be a saint when you’re just a boy out on the street
And the sages of the subway sit just like the living dead
As the tracks clack out the rhythm, their eyes fixed straight ahead
They ride the line of balance and hold on by just a thread
But it’s too hot in these tunnels you can get hit up by the heat
You get up to get out at your next stop but they push you back down
in your seat
Your heart starts beatin’ faster as you struggle to your feet
Then you’re outa that hole and back up on the street
And them South Side sisters sure look pretty
The cripple on the corner cries out, "Nickels for your pity."
And them downtown boys sure talk gritty
It’s so hard to be a saint in the city
I see you walking, baby, down the street
Pushing that baby carriage at your feet
I see that lonely ribbon in your hair
Tell me am I the man for whom you put it there
You never smile girl, you never speak
You just walk on by, darlin’, week after week
Raising two kids alone in this mixed up world
Must be a lonely life for a working girl
Little girl, I wanna marry you
Oh yeah, little girl, I wanna marry you
Yes I do
Little girl, I wanna mary you
Now, honey, I don’t wanna clip your wings
But a time comes when two people should think of these things
Having a home and a family
Facing up to their responsibilities
They say in the end true love prevails
But in the end true love can’t be no fairytale
To say I’ll make your dreams come true would be wrong
But maybe, darlin’, I could help them along
Little girl, I wanna marry you
Oh yeah, little girl, I wanna marry you
Yes I do
Little girl, I wanna mary you
My daddy said right before he died
That true, true love was just a lie
He went to his grave a broken heart
An unfulfilled life, makes a man hard
Oh darlin’
There’s something happy and there’s something sad
’Bout wanting somebody, oh so bad,
I wear my love darlin’, without shame
I’d be proud if you would wear my name
I love to see the cottonwood blossom
In the early spring
I love to see the message of love
That the bluebird brings
But when I see you walkin’ with him
Down along the strand
I wish I were blind
When I see you with your man
I love to see your hair shining
In the long summer’s light
I love to watch the stars fill the sky
On a summer night
The music plays you take his hand
I watch how you touch him as you start to dance
And I wish I were blind
When I see you with your man
We struggle here but all our love’s in vain
Oh these eyes that once filled me with your beauty
Now fill me with pain
And the light that once entered here
Is banished from me
And this darkness is all baby that my heart sees
And though this world is filled
With the grace and beauty of God’s hand
Oh I wish I were blind
When I see you with your man
Driving home she grabs something to eat
Turns a corner and drives down her street
Into a row of houses she just melts away
Like the scenery in another man’s play
Into a house where the blinds are closed
To keep from seeing things she don’t wanna know
She pulls the blinds and looks out on the street
The cool of the night takes the edge off the heat
In the Jackson Cage
Down in the Jackson Cage
You can try with all your might
But you’re reminded every night
That you been judged and handed life
Down in the Jackson Cage
Every day ends in wasted motion
Just crossed swords on the killing floor
To settle back is to settle without knowing
The hard edge that you’re settling for
Because there’s always just one more day
And it’s always gonna be that way
Little girl you’ve been down here so long
I can tell by the way that you move you belong to
The Jackson Cage
Down in Jackson Cage
And it don’t matter just what you say
Are you tough enough to play the game they play
Or will you just do your time and fade away
Down into the Jackson Cage
Baby there’s nights when I dream of a better world
But I wake up so downhearted girl
I see you feeling so tired and confused
I wonder what it’s worth to me or you
Just waiting to see some sun
Never knowing if that day will ever come
Left alone standing out on the street
Till you become the hand that turns the key down in
Jackson Cage
Down in Jackson Cage
Well darlin’ can you understand
The way that they will turn a man
Into a stranger to waste away
Down in the Jackson Cage
I got no time for the corner boys
Down in the street making all that noise
Or the girls out on the avenue
'Cause tonight I wanna be with you
Tonight I'm gonna take that ride
Across the river to the Jersey side
Take my baby to the carnival
And I'll take her on all the rides
'Cause down the shore everything's all right
You and your baby on a Saturday night
You know all my dreams come true
When I'm walking down the street with you
Sha la la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la la la
Sha la la la I'm in love with a Jersey girl
You know she thrills me with all her charms
When I'm wrapped up in my baby's arms
My little girl gives me everything
I know that some day she'll wear my ring
So don't bother me man I ain't got no time
I'm on my way to see that girl of mine
'Cause nothing matters in this whole wide world
When you're in love with a Jersey girl
Sha la la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la la la
Sha la la la I'm in love with a Jersey girl
I see you on the street and you look so tired
I know that job you got leaves you uninspired
When I come by to take you out to eat
You're lyin' all dressed up on the bed baby fast asleep
Go in the bathroom and put your makeup on
We're gonna take that little brat of yours and drop her off at your
mom's
I know a place where the dancing's free
Now baby won't you come with me
'Cause down the shore everything's all right
You and your baby on a Saturday night
Nothing matters in the whole wide world
When you're in love with a Jersey girl
Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month
Ralph went out lookin’ for a job but he couldn’t find none
He came home too drunk from mixin’
Tanqueray and wine
He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call ’m Johnny 99
Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don’t stop
Johnny’s wavin’ his gun around and threatenin’ to blow his top
When an off duty cop snuck up on him from behind
Out in front of the Club Tip Top they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99
Well the city supplied a public defender but the judge was Mean John
Brown
He came into the courtroom and stared poor Johnny down
Well the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence son fit the crime
Prison for 98 and a year and we’ll call it even Johnny 99
A fistfight broke out in the courtroom they had to drag Johnny’s girl
away
His mama stood up and shouted "judge don’t take my boy this way"
Well son you got a statement you’d like to make
Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away
Now judge I got debts no honest man could pay
The bank was holdin’ my mortgage and they was takin’ my house away
Now I ain’t sayin’ that makes me an innocent man
But it was more ’n all this that put that gun in my hand
Well your honor I do believe I’d be better off dead
And if you can take a man’s life for the thoughts that’s in his head
Then won’t you sit back in that chair and think it over judge one more
time
And let ’em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line
The Rangers had a homecoming
In Harlem late last night
And the Magic Rat drove his sleek machine
Over the Jersey state line
Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain
The Rat pulls into town rolls up his pants
Together they take a stab at romance
And disappear down Flamingo Lane
Well the Maximum Lawmen run down Flamingo
Chasing the Rat and the barefoot girl
And the kids round here look just like shadows
Always quiet, holding hands
From the churches to the jails
Tonight all is silence in the world
As we take our stand
Down in Jungleland
The midnight gang’s assembled
And picked a rendezvous for the night
They’ll meet ’neath that giant Exxon sign
That brings this fair city light
Man there’s an opera out on the Turnpike
There’s a ballet being fought out in the alley
Until the local cops
Cherry Tops
Rips this holy night
The street’s alive
As secret debts are paid
Contacts made, they vanish unseen
Kids flash guitars just like switch-blades
Hustling for the record machine
The hungry and the hunted
Explode into rock’n’roll bands
That face off against each other out in the street
Down in Jungleland
In the parking lot the visionaries
Dress in the latest rage
Inside the backstreet girls are dancing
To the records that the DJ plays
Lonely-hearted lovers
Struggle in dark corners
Desperate as the night moves on
Just one look
And a whisper, and they’re gone
Beneath the city two hearts beat
Soul engines running through a night so tender
In a bedroom locked
In whispers of soft refusal
And then surrender
In the tunnels uptown
The Rat’s own dream guns him down
As shots echo down them hallways in the night
No one watches when the ambulance pulls away
Or as the girl shuts out the bedroom light
Outside the street’s on fire
In a real death waltz
Between what’s flesh and what’s fantasy
And the poets down here
Don’t write nothing at all
They just stand back and let it all be
And in the quick of the night
They reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand
But they wind up wounded
Not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland
All over the world the rain was pourin’
I was scratchin’ where it itched
Oh heartbreak and despair got nothing but boring
So I grabbed you baby like a wild pitch
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
It takes a leap of faith you gotta show some guts
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
In your heart you must trust
Now your legs were heaven your breasts were the altar
Your body was the holy land
You shouted "jump" but my heart faltered
You laughted and said "Baby don’t you understand ?"
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
It takes a leap of faith you gotta show some guts
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
In your heart you must trust
Now you were the Red Sea I was Moses
I kissed you and slipped into a bed of roses
The waters parted and love rushed inside
I was Jesus’ son sanctified
Tonight the moon’s looking young but I’m feelin’ younger
’Neath a veil of dreams sweet blessings rain
Honey I can feel the first breeze of summer
And in your love I’m born again
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
It takes a leap of faith you gotta show some guts
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
In your heart you must trust
Well I’ve been out of the woods for six days and nights now
Well I’m a little hot wired, but I’m feeling all right
I got some money in my pocket and a long lean ride
I got to make it down to Galveston by Saturday night, now
Well I’m a little down under, but I’m feeling O.K.
Got a little lost along the way
I’m just around the corner to the light of day
Well, I’m just around the corner to the light of day
Been driving five hundred miles, got five hundred to go, yeah
I got rock and roll music on the radio
I got a brother on a rig just off the gulf coast
He says the girls down there, well they’re really the most, man
Well I’m a little down under, but I’m feeling O.K.
I got a little lost along the way
Just around the corner to the light of day
Just around the corner to the light of day
I’m just around the corner to the light of day
I’m just around the corner to the light of day
Well I got thrown out of work on the Kokomo
Don’t ask me what I’m doing, I don’t know
I hope he wasn’t joking when he wrote me that letter
Things can’t get any worse, they got to get better
I’m a little down under, but I’m doing O.K.
Got a little lost along the way
I’m just around the corner to the light of day
Just around the corner to the light of day
Just around the corner to the light of day
Just around the corner to the light of day
Well now on a summer night in a dusky room
Come a little piece of the Lord’s undying light
Crying like he swallowed the fiery moon
In his mother’s arms it was all the beauty I could take
Like the missing words to some prayer that I could never make
In a world so hard and dirty so fouled and confused
Searching for a little bit of God’s mercy
I found living proof
I put my heart and soul I put ’em high upon a shelf
Right next to the faith the faith that I’d lost in myself
I went down into the desert city
Just tryin’ so hard to shed my skin
I crawled deep into some kind of darkness
Lookin’ to burn out every trace of who I’d been
You do some sad sad things baby
When it’s you you’re tryin’ to lose
You do some sad and hurtful things
I’ve seen living proof
You shot through my anger and rage
To show me my prison was just an open cage
There were no keys no guards
Just one frightened man and some old shadows for bars
Well now all that’s sure on the boulevard
Is that life is just a house of cards
As fragile as each and every breath
Of this boy sleepin’ in our bed
Tonight let’s lie beneath the eaves
Just a close band of happy thieves
And when that train comes we’ll get on board
And steal what we can from the treasures treasures of the Lord
It’s been a long long drought baby
Tonight the rain’s pourin’ down on our roof
Looking for a little bit of God’s mercy
I found living proof
I was driving through my hometown
I was just kinda killin’ time
When I seen a face staring out of a black velvet painting
From the window of the five and dime
I couldn’t quite recall the name
But the pose looked familiar to me
So I asked the salesgirl "Who was that man
Between the doberman and Bruce Lee ?"
She said "Just a local hero"
"Local hero" she said with a smile
"Yeah a local hero he used to live here for a while"
I met a stranger dressed in black
At the train station
He said "Son your soul can be saved"
There’s beautiful women nights of low livin’
And some dangerous money to be made
There’s a big town ’cross the whiskey line
And if we turn the right cards up
They make us boss the devil pays off
And them folks that are real hard up
They get their local hero
Somebody with the right style
They get their local hero
Somebody with just the right smile
Well I learned my job I learned it well
Fit myself with religion and a story to tell
First they made me the king then they made me pope
Then they brought the rope
I woke to a gypsy girl sayin’ "Drink this"
Well my hands had lost all sensation
These days I’m feeling all right
’Cept I can’t tell my courage from my desperation
From the tainted chalice
Well I drunk some heady wine
Tonight I’m layin’ here
But there’s something in my ear
Sayin’ there’s a little town just beaneath the floodline
Needs a local hero
Somebody with the right style
Lookin’ for a local hero
Someone with the right smile
Local hero local hero she said with a smile
Local hero he used to live here for a while
The ragamuffiin gunner is returnin’ home like a hungry runaway
He walks through town all alone
He must be from the fort he hears the high school girls say
His countryside’s burnin’ with wolfman fairies dressed in drag for
homicide
The hit and run, plead sanctuary, ’neath a holy stone they hide
They’re breakin’ beams and crosses with a spastic’s reelin’ perfection
nuns run bald through Vatican halls pregnant, pleadin’ immaculate conception
And everybody’s wrecked on Main Street from drinking unholy blood
Sticker smiles sweet as gunner breathes deep, his ankles caked in mud
And I said, "Hey, gunner man, that’s quicksand, that’s quicksand that
ain’t mud
Have you thrown your senses to the war or did you lose them in the
flood ?"
That pure American brother, dull-eyed and empty-faced
races Sundays in Jersey in a Chevy stock super eight
He rides ’er low on the hip, on the side he’s got Bound For Glory in
red, white and blue flash paint.
He leans on the hood telling racing stories, the kids call him Jimmy
The Saint
Well that blaze and noise boy, he’s gunnin’ that bitch loaded to blastin’
point
He rides head first into a hurricane and disappears into a point
And there’s nothin’ left but some blood where the body fell
That is, nothin’ left that you could sell
just junk all across the horizon, a real highwayman’s farewell
And I said "Hey kid, you think that’s oil ? Man, that ain’t oil that’s
blood."
I wonder what he was thinking when he hit that storm
or was he just lost in the flood ?
Eighth Avenue sailors in satin shirts whisper in the air
Some storefront incarnation of Maria, she’s puttin’ on me the stare
and Bronx’s best apostle stands with his hand on his own hardware
Everything stops, you hear five, quick shots, the cops come up for
air
And now the whiz-bang gang from uptown, they’re shootin’ up the street
And that cat from the Bronx starts lettin’ loose
but he gets blown right off his feet
And some kid comes blastin’ round the corner but a cop puts him right
away
He lays on the street holding his leg screaming something in Spanish
still breathing when I walked away
And somebody said, "Hey man, did you see that ? His body hit the street
with such a beautiful thud."
I wonder what the dude was sayin’ or was he just lost in the flood
?
Hey man, did you see that, those poor cats are sure messed up
I wonder what they were gettin’ into, or were they just lost in the
flood ?
House got too crowded clothes got too tight
And I don’t know just where I’m going tonight
Out where the sky’s been cleared by a good hard rain
There’s somebody callin’ my secret name
I’m going down to Lucky Town
Going down to Lucky Town
I wanna lose these blues I’ve found
Down in Lucky Town
Down in Lucky Town
Had a coat of fine leather and snakeskin boots
But that coat always had a thread hangin’ to loose
Well I pulled it one night and to my surprise
It led me right past your house and on over the rise
I’m going down to Lucky Town
Down to Lucky Town
I’m gonna lose these blues I’ve found
Down in Lucky Town
Down in Lucky Town
I had some victory that was just failure in deceit
Now the joke’s comin’ up through the soles of my feet
I been a long time walking on fortune’s cane
Tonight I’m sleepin’ lightly and feelin’ no pain
Well here’s to your good looks baby now here’s to my health
Here’s to the loaded places that we take ourselves
When it comes to luck you make your own
Tonight I got to dirt on my hands but I’m building me a new home
Down in Lucky Town
Down in Lucky Town
I’m gonna lose these blues I’ve found
Down in Lucky Town
Go See Lyrics for Songs A-C,
M-S
or T-Z
| Index | Sounds | Albums | Links | Forum |
