BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
Madman drummers bummers and Indians in the summer with a
teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his
way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder feelin' kinda older I
tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasing sneezing and wheezing the
calliope crashed to the ground
Some all-hot half-shot was headin' for the hot spot snappin' his fingers
clappin' his hands
And some fleshpot mascot was tied into a lover's knot
with a whatnot in her hand
And now young Scott with a slingshot finally found a
tender spot and throws his lover in the sand
And some bloodshot forget-me-not whispers daddy's within
earshot save the buckshot turn up the band
And she was blinded by the light
Cut loose like a deuce another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
She got down but she never got tight, but she'll make it
alright
Some brimstone baritone anti-cyclone rolling stone
preacher from the east
He says: "Dethrone the dictaphone, hit it in its
funny bone, that's where they expect it least"
And some new-mown chaperone was standin' in the corner
all alone watchin' the young girls dance
And some fresh-sown moonstone was messin' with his frozen
zone to remind him of the feeling of romance
Yeah he was blinded by the light
Cut loose like a deuce another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
He got down but she never got tight, but he's gonna make
it tonight
Some silicone sister with her manager's mister told me I
got what it takes
She said I'll turn you on sonny, to something strong if
you play that song with the funky break,
And go-cart Mozart was checkin' out the weather chart to
see if it was safe to go outside
And little Early-Pearly came in by her curly-wurly and
asked me if I needed a ride,
Oh, some hazard from Harvard was skunked on beer playin'
backyard bombardier
Yes and Scotland Yard was trying hard, they sent a dude
with a calling card,
he said, do what you like, but don't do it here
Well I jumped up, turnedaround, spit in the air, fell on
the ground
Asked him wich was the way back home
He said take a right at the light, keep goin' straight
until night, and then boy, you're on your own
And now in Zanzibar a shootin' star was ridin' in a side
car hummin' a lunar tune
Yes, and the avatar said blow the bar but first remove
the cookie jar we're gonna teach those boys to laugh too
soon
And some kidnapped handicap was complainin' that he
caught the clap from some mousetrap he bought last night,
Well I unsnapped his skull cap and between his ears I saw
a gap but figured he'd be all right
He was just blinded by the light
Cut loose like a deuce another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
Mama always told me not to look into the sights of the
sun
Oh but mama that's where the fun is
GROWIN' UP
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 came out
with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they
said "Sit down" I stood up.
Ooh-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 wrath of the crowd but when they
said "Come down" I threw up
Ooh-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-ooh growin' up. Ooh-ooh growin' up
MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS
Mary Queen of
Arkansas, it's not too early for dreamin'
The sky is grown with cloud seed sown and a bastard's love can be
redeeming
Mary, my queen, your soft hulk is reviving
No, you're not too late to desecrate, the servants are just rising
Well I'm just a lonely acrobat, the live wire is my trade
I've been a shine boy for your acid brat and a wharf rat of your state
Mary, my queen, your blows for freedom are missing
You're not man enough for me to hate or woman enough for kissing
The big top is for dreamers, we can take the circus all the way to the
border
And the gallows wait for martyrs whose papers are in order
But I was not born to live to die and you were not born for queenin'
It's not too late to infiltrate, the servants are just leavin'
Mary queen of Arkansas, your white skin is deceivin'
You wake and wait to lie in bait and you almost got me believin'
But on your bed Mary I can see the shadow of a noose
I don't understand how you can hold me so tight and love me so damn
loose
But I know a place where we can go Mary
Where I can get a good job and start all over again clean
I got contacts deep in Mexico where the servants have been seen
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".
Senorita, Spanish rose, wipes her eyes and blows her nose
Uptown in Harlem she throw a rose to some lucky, young matador.
LOST IN THE FLOOD
The ragamuffin
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 the 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 he 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?
THE ANGEL
The angel rides with hunch-backed children, poison oozing
from his engine
Wieldin' love as a lethal weapon, on his way to hubcap
heaven
Baseball cards poked in his spokes, his boots in oil he's
patiently soaked
The roadside attendant nervously jokes as the angel's
tires strokes his precious pavement
The interstate's choked with nomadic hordes
in Volkswagen vans with full running boards dragging
great anchors
Followin' dead-end signs into the sores
The angel rides by humpin' his hunk metal whore
Madison Avenue's claim to fame in a trainer bra with eyes
like rain
She rubs against the weather-beaten frame and asks the
angel for his name
Off in the distance the marble dome
reflects across the flatlands with a naked feel off into
parts unknown
The woman strokes his polished chrome and lies beside the
angel's bones.
FOR YOU
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
That 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
SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT
Crazy Janey and her mission man were back in the alley
tradin' hands
`long came Wild Billy with his friend G-man all duded up
for Saturday night
Well Billy slammed on his coaster brakes and said anybody
wanna go on up to Greasy Lake
It's about a mile down on the dark side of route
eighty-eight
I got a bottle of rose so let's try it
We'll pick up Hazy Davy and Killer Joe and I'll take you
all out to where the gypsy angels go
They're built like light
and they dance like spirits in the night (all night) in
the night (all night)
Oh, you don't know what they can do to you
Spirits in the night (all night), in the night (all night)
Stand right up now and let it shoot through you
Well now Wild young Billy was a crazy cat and he shook
some dust out of his coonskin cap.
He said, "Trust some of this it'll show you where
you're at, or at least it'll help you really feel
it"
By the time we made it up to Greasy Lake I had my head
out the window and Janey's fingers were in the cake
I think I really dug her `cause I was too loose to fake
I said, "I'm hurt." She said, "Honey let
me heal it".
And we danced all night to a soul fairy band
and she kissed me just right like only a lonely angel can
She felt so nice, just as soft as a spirit in the night
(all night)
In the night (all night). Janey don't know what she do to
you
Like a spirit in the night (all night), in the night (all night)
Stand right up and let her shoot through me.
Now the night was bright and the stars threw light on Billy and Davy
dancin' in the moonlight
They were down near the water in a stone mud fight
Killer Joe gone passed out on the lawn
Well now Hazy Davy got really hurt, he ran into the lake in just his
socks and a shirt
Me and Crazy Janey was makin' love in the dirt singin' our birthday
songs
Janey said it was time to go
So we closed our eyes and said goodbye to gypsy angel row, felt so right
Together we moved like spirits in the night, all night
Baby don't know what they can do to you
Spirits in the night, all night
Stand right up and let it shoot right through you
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 like a Harley in heat
When I strut down the street I could feel its heartbeat
The sisters fell back and said "Don't that man look pretty"
The cripple on the corner cried out "Nickels for your pity"
Them downtown boys sure talk gritty
It's so hard to be a saint in the city
I was the king of the alley 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
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
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
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