23rd Street Lullaby
Underneath the swirling light
of jasmine tea and smoke
you traced my face up on
the bar room wall
and you tried to intimidate me
as you drank your drinks and joked
saying “it takes more than clean hands
to catch angels when they fall”
well I’ll keep that in mind
Come on darling…Oh my my
Wanna hear my 23rd St. lullaby
Got a bottle of wine… a bag of tricks
There’s a place for you under my fingertips
There’s a place for you… Oh my my
Up on the rooftops of my
23rd St. lullaby
me and you on the avenue
on a sumer night
bass and drums and the traffic hums…
And I feel all right
well come and walk beside me darling
and I’ll take my place
I’m a little low on courage…
But I’m high on faith
And I feel so fine
Come on darling… Oh my my
Want to hear my 23rd St. lullaby
Got a bottle of wine… a bag of tricks
There’s a place for you under my fingertips
There’s a place for you… Oh my my
Up on the rooftops of my
23rd St. lullaby
got a downtown heart… got a love so sweet
got a tone poem and a funky little beat
got a music box… it’s soft inside
and in your arms I’ll come alive
so don’t you worry now
say you will
I’ll be waiting here until you
Take a chance… take a risk
I’ll take what’s broken and
I’ll take what’s fixed and
me and you on the avenue
on a summer night
bass and drums and the traffic hums
and I feel all right
Come on darling… Oh my my
You want to hear my 23rd St. lullaby
Got a bottle of wine… a bag of tricks
There’s a place for you under my fingertips
There’s a place for you… Oh my my
Up on the rooftops of my eyes
Gonna take a chance… take a risk
And I’ll take what’s broken
and I’ll take what’s fixed
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You Can't Go Back (4:43)
New York City
1988
standing in the Chelsea rain
with a small suitcase
I used to walk invisible
and the only time I felt recognized
was when I saw myself reflected
in you loving eyes
now I’m looking for a piece of my past
on these streets that I once knew but…
Hey Hey
You can’t go back
Hey Hey
You can’t go back
now I used to have the kind of luck
that went from bad to worse
a gypsy on the waterfront
she told me I was cursed
she said no one’s
young forever
well I just laughed
I turned to leave around the corner
and the years went past
now I’m looking for
a piece of myself
on the same streets
that I once knew but…
Hey Hey
You can’t go back
Hey Hey
You can’t go back
how can everything
look so different
how can everything
look so the same
thru an open window
I hear a record playing
Who will stop the rain
Now there’s a river
of faces in the tide of
rise and fall
do they wonder where we’ve gone
do they think of us at all
will they recognize us now
in these perfect clothes and gowns
do they wonder what we’re doing here
on this side of town
Hey Hey You can’t go back
Hey Hey You can’t go back
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Rose (5:11)
Sha na na na na na
Sha na na na na na
Rose was a waitress…
for 20 years or more
Bringing in the change…
she was heaven sent
She taught me how to balance trays
When I didn’t know what to do
and I learned to turn tables
To make my rent
She said “keep your eye on
the work clock
Keep a dollar in the jukebox
And there’s a bottle of whiskey
behind the coffee machine
Don’t talk to the boss
he’s just trouble you
don’t want to cross
He’s the walking definition of what
it is to be mean”
I’m going out on the
streets of the city
going to spend my money tonight
I’m going out on the
streets of the city
Rose you’re pushing fifty
But you sure look all right
Now there’s this guy
He speaks no English
he does the dishes by hand
you know his pase it never slacks
I said “Rose he must be one of
God’s good children”
She just laughs and says
“yeah, God’s got him doing the dishes
all night in the back”
but he keeps smiling… and those plates
keep piling up so high
it seems he can’t make a dent
Me I’m bitching by the service station
“I’m so tired on waiting on all
these jokers for a lousy ten percent”
I’m going out on the streets of the city
going to spend my money tonight
I’m going out on the streets of the city
Rose you’re pushing fifty
But you sure look all right
Now listen… I traveled once with this
rock ‘n’ roll band
And my baby was a hero
At every small town bar
And I watched that summer of ‘88
Pass through the rear view mirror
of his rented car
Oh but don’t you learn
real young and fast
That the good times they
ain’t meant to last
And that sweet love,
ain’t it the first to disappear
Rose sometimes you know I get
so frightened
I don’t want to spend the rest of my life
Working on the graveyard shift here,
well
I’m going out on the streets of the city
going to spend all my money tonight
I’m going out on the streets of the city
Rose you’re pusing fifty
But you sure look all right
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City Boys (2:43)
My auntie Mabel
1953
left her Minnesota dirt farm
to see what she could see
in a letter to her mother
telling her
what she enjoyed
said there’s nothing in
the whole wide world
like a city boy
1987 … took daddy’s Cadillac
I drove it to Chicago…
never brought it back
All these years later…
I’m still unemployed
oh well there’s nothing in
the whole wide world
like a city boy
My grandaddy had long grey hair
silver cane and a rocking chair
tapped that cane on a wooden floor
saying “take what you’re given and
then ask for more”
well now baby
what do you think of that?
can you make a woman
out of an alley cat?
can you take the agitation
and not get annoyed?
well there’s nothing in the whole wide world
like a city boy
now my auntie Mable
she playes the dominos
way down South where the yucca plant grows
drinking whiskey out of Coca Cola bottles
smoking Viceroys
still swears there’s nothing in
the whole wide world
like a city boy
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Love (Stand Up) (5:25)
Love… you’re the one
the well known pleasure…
under my tongue
my holy water
my gypsy rain
come and find me…once again
because you are
everything I wanted
I need your faith…
I need your love
To take my place…
to rise above to stand up
Love, be my cure
be my medicine…
simple and pure
take my sorrow…
take my pain
and come and find me…
once again because you are
everything I wanted
So give me your faith…
give me your love
And I’ll take my place
and I’ll rise above
And I’ll stand up
Give me hope and give me strength
and give me your soul understanding
give me faith and give me truth
and give me yourself everlasting
give me hope and give me faith
and give me your
soul understanding
give me strength
and give me truth…
and give me love
Love… you’re the one
all of my medicine…
under my tongue
because you are
everything I wanted
And I need your faith
and I need your love
to take my place
to rise above
to take my place
I need your trust
so hear me now
and I’ll rise above…
and I’ll stand up
Stand up…stand up…
Stand up…stand up…
And give me hope
and give me faith
and give me your
soul understanding
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Yesterday's Child (4:27)
Anna… in foreign blue
yesterday I saw someone
Who reminded one of you
and I…
held my breath and called yoru name
and though I knew it was not you
I followed just the same…
I wanted to raise the glass
To a sumphony of miles
And say our last farewell
to yesterday’s child
Anna… sweep the doorway clean
let’s frogive before we blame
and I…
will make my own amends
with the dust and sin
underneath my skin
and on my maiden name
So let’s raise the glass
To a symphony of miles
And say our last farewell
to yesterday’s child
Anna… in my dreams
I open my arms and I’m flying
let’s do some living
forget about the dying…
Anna… I’ve done my thousand days
now I’m walking free in time
and I… still have my imaginings
where there’s no struggling…
or suffering
just cigarettes and wine…
So let’s raise a glass
To a symphony of miles
And say our last farewell
to yesterday’s child
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Stumbling To Bethlehem (4:09)
I was doing time in Salvation Park
up on the high rope me your ace of hearts
just when I thought I was so special
I thought I had it all
You take one wrong step
before you fall and you’re
Stumbling to Bethlehem
in this absence of light
Stumbling to Bethlehem
don’t worry darling
yeah don’t think twice
now there’s this man on the corner
in a long black sweater saying
“sinners they will burn forever”
Well I must be guilty of something
some price I forgot to pay
I must have done somebody wrong
Somewhere along the
way, that keeps me
Stumbling to Bethlehem
in this absence of light
Stumbling to Bethlehem
don’t worry darling
yeah don’t think twice
now you can count up all
your blessings
you can count up every curse
but you never really know
which is better or
which is worse
so you try to do right
but it gets so tough
there’s always someone
to remind you
that you’re just not
good enough and you’re
Stumbling to Bethlehem
in this absence of light
Stumbling to Bethlehem
don’t worry darling
yeah don’t think twice
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Each Other's Medicine (2:58)
So all that loneliness for a moment is through
And now it’s going to take time to find some faith for you
You’ve got a history of crash landings
Coming down on nothing but a prayer
And finding no one there to break the fall
So you got all twisted up inside
Got a new hairdo and a big disguise
Till no one could recognize you at all
Well that’s all right … that’s o.k.
I’m going to love you any which way
That’s o.k. … that’s all right
We’ll be each other’s medicine tonight
Well the path of resistance for a moment
now has cleared
And you want to open up but you’re
locked down shut with fear
Because you know the lonely corner
Where the blind man begs for change
You’ve carried that cup and cane before
And you never get what you think you deserve
So you settle for token kindness
and sympathetic words
Anything to ease the pain
Well that’s all right … that’s o.k.
I’m going to have you … any which way
That’s o.k. … that’s all right
We’ll be each other’s medicine tonight
Well all the stopped clocks are ticking
It’s time I do believe
When you’ve got nothing left to give
And you’re too paralyzed to receive
When you’re unfamiliar to yourself
And a stranger to everybody else
When you’re too lost and too gone to see
Well that’s all right … that’s o.k.
I’ll regonize you any which way
That’s o.k. … that’s all right
We’ll be each other’s medicine tonight
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Romeo (5:11)
standing at your doorstep darlin’
what can I do
you’re a part of me forever
like a troublesome tattoo
I lay awake at night
curse your name into the dark
while the memory of you rings
like a church bell through my heart
then a cold rain starts to fall
Oh Romeo
remember how we’d listen to the radio
when the girls sang
“baby baby you know it’s true
ain’t no one in this world for me but you”
now I’m a believer darlin’
I believe in heaven above
and when I look in your eyes
I believe I still see love
well maybe I will never know
just why you walked away
did you think I wasn’t good enough
or were you just afraid
of that cold rain that’s fallen
all around us now
Oh Romeo
remember how we’d listen to the radio
when the girls sang
“baby baby you know it’s true
ain’t no one in this world
for me but you”
now I’m living here in Chelsea
in somebody else’s arms
got a ring around my finger
diamond snake around my arm
don’t know if he knows
about you darlin’
I don’t even care
sometimes he pretends to
reach for me
and I pretend I’m there
while that cold rain
has fallen all around us now…
listen
Oh Romeo
remember how we’d listen to the radio
when the girls sang
“baby baby you know it’s true
ain’t no one in this world
for me but you”
well there is no on
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State Of Grace (4:22)
Check your time plain station master
And bless the 3:45
She’s rolling fast and free
And don’t she look just like me
Spitting of smoke
And all emtpy inside
I left my baby down on a busy street
Our love followed the course of the sun
It rose above the city skyline
And sunk behind the turnpike oil drums… well
Come on now mister conductor
Come on and seal my fate
I was raised to find my way
Now I’m going to find my state of grace
So I went walking down the edges of the city
to the harbor lady and the holy land
with no English my family came
And money left a stain on their
foreign hands
I don’t know how some people do it
They just walk away and they
don’t look back… because
Under a river in a cold mud tunnel
My grandfather’s ghost is still
slamming the jack… well
Come on now mister conductor
Come and seal my fate
I was raised to find my way
Now I’m going to find my state of grace
Last night I had a dream of forgiveness
We were walking on some sacred ground
And a light fell from heaven with a promise
That all lost things are someday found… well
Come on now mister conductor
Come on and seal my fate
I was raised to find my way
Now I’m going to find my state of grace
I’m going to find my state of grace
back to the top
Chelsea Avenue (4:55)
Daniels’ by the jonny pump
He’s drunk on cheap wine
He’s got a monkey wrench in his hand
Saying he’ll be prepared for next time
Everything seemed so right
Who would have thought to make amends
With a love so pure
Who would have thought we’d burn in the end
From the tip of the fire to the heart of the blaze
When the rains came
There was nothing left to save
Sifting thru the ashes for a clue
Nothing but a memory of you
Down on Chelsea Avenue
Light a candle light a light
I’m going to take you down tonight
So let the bells ring and the whistles blow
Across the soft country that we used to know
Where every path you take is marked
And every story in your heart
All comes running back to you
Down on Chelsea Avenue
Didn’t we love to love to love
Didn’t we love to love to love
Didn’t we love to love now
Didn’t we
Didn’t we walk so tall didn’t we walk so free?
Didn’t have to search for the strength
to be just what we wanted to be
after the temptations
it was just burning rain on wood
The more we learned the less we really understood
Now I don’t know who makes those final decisions
Who will be rewarded, punished or just forgiven
But I forgave you darling because I knew
It’s what you would have wanted me to do
Down on Chelsea Avenue
back to the top
Young In The City (4:29)
I ferried my dreams
across the water
underneath a faceless moon
I woke to find myself uncovered
in this dark and dusty room
take me … up the wooden stairs
where the windows are open wide
there we can watch the city skyline
tremble in the heat waves rolling by
And don’t the world look pretty
When you’re young in the city
so there I was
Ophelia climbing
through these tangled threads of light
I was caught
open and bleeding
but I was willing to stay the night
take me down … to where the buildings
stand empty at our feet
where the … dirty Hudson River
and the sweet blue oceans meet
And don’t the world look pretty
When you’re young in the city
don’t you sometimes wonder
why it all goes by so fast
I held you in my fingers now
I hold you in my past…
once I watched you … walk on water
now I watch you walk across the room
I always thought we’d have forever
now these forevers go by too soon
take me down … to the street below
where the moon and traffic lights
guide us … while we go dreaming
thru another sleepless night
And don’t the world look pretty
When you’re young in the city
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