The Bridge

Late at night
When it's dark and cold
I reach out
For someone to hold
When i'm blue
When i'm lonely
She comes through
She's the only one who can
My baby grand
Is all i need

In my time
I've wandered everywhere
Around this world
She would always be there
Any day
Any hour
All it takes
Is the power in my hands
This baby grand's
Been good to me

I've had friends
But they have slipped away
I've had fame
But it doesn't stay
I've made fortunes
Spent them fast enough
As for woman
They don't last with just one man
But baby grand
Will stand by me

They say that no one's gonna play this on the radio
They said the melancholy blues were dead and gone
But only songs like these
Played in minor keys
Keep those memories holding on

I've come far
From the life i've strayed in
I've got scars
From those dives i've played in
Now i'm home
And i'm weary
In my bones
Every dreary one night stand
But baby grand
Came home with me

Ever since this gig began
My baby grand's
Been good to me

There's a lot of tension in this town
I know it's building up inside of me
I've got all the symptoms and the side effects
Of city life anxiety

I could never understand why the urban attitude
Is so superior
In a world of high rise ambition
Most people's motives are ulterior

Sometimes i feel as though i'm running on ice
Paying the price too long
Kind of get the feeling that i'm running on ice
Where did my life go wrong

I'm a cosmopolitan sophisticate
Of culture and intelligence
The culmination of technology
And civilized experience

But i'm carrying the weight of all the useless junk
A modern man accumulates
I'm a statistic in a system
That a civil servant dominates

And all that means is that i'm running on ice
Caught in the vise so strong
I'm slipping and sliding, cause i'm running on ice
Where did my life go wrong

You've got to run
You've got to run

As fast as i can climb
A new disaster every time i turn around
As soon as i get one fire put out
There's another building burning down

They say this highway's going my way
But i don't know where it's taking me
It's a bad waste, a sad case, a rat race
It's breaking me

I get no traction cause i'm running on ice
It's taking me twice as long
I get a bad reaction cause i'm running on ice
Where did my life go wrong

You've got to run
You've got to run

Running on ice
Running on ice
Running on ice
Running on ice

Why can't i lay low
Why can't i say what i mean
Why don't i stay home
And get myself into some boring routine

Why can't i calm down
Why is it always a fight
I can't get unwound
Why do i throw myself into the night

I'm on the outside
I don't fit into the groove
Now i ain't a bad guy
So tell me what am i trying to prove

Why can't i cool out
Why don't i button my lip
Why do i lash out
Why is it i always shoot from the hip

I cruise from houston to canal street
A misfit and a rebel
I see the winds talking to themselves
And i can understand
Why is it every time i go out
I always seem to get in trouble
I guess i made an impression on somebody
North of hester and south of grand

And so in my small way
I'm a big man on mulberry street
I don't mean all day
Only at night when i'm light on my feet

What else have i got
That i'd be trying to hide
Maybe a blind spot
I haven't seen from the sensitive side

But you know in my own heart
I'm a big man on mulberry street
I play the whole part
I leave a big tip with every receipt

I'm so romantic
I'm such a passionate man
Sometimes i panic
What if nobody finds out who i am

I went searching for the truth
But in my innocence i found
All the con men and their acrobats
Who stomped me in the ground
If i count up their percentages
I know they're getting rich
But they haven't taken everything
Those paybacks are a bitch

Though i've lost quite a lot
I am still in control
They can keep what they've got
But they can't have my soul
And if i don't have this all worked out
Still i'm getting closer, getting closer
I still have far to go no doubt
But i'm getting closer, getting closer

What was ripped off by professionals
Is not all that it seems
While i must live up to contracts
I did not give up my dreams
If i see it as experience
It hasn't gone to waste
Lately all the missing pieces
Have been falling into place

And if i could go back and start over somehow
I would not change that much
Knowing what i know now
Thought there have been sins
I will regret
Still i'm getting close, getting closer
I don't have all the answers yet
But i'm getting closer, getting closer

I'm a mark for every shyster
From topanga to berlin
And i should have learned to kick them out
As soon as they crawled in
So to every bank in switzerland
That stores my stolen youth
I'm all right because despite the laws
You cannot hide the truth

And although you will say
I am still too naive
But i have not lost faith
In the things i believe

And if i don't have a this all worked out
Still i'm getting closer, getting closer
I still have far to go no doubt
But i'm still getting closer, getting closer

Everybody's got a million questions
Everybody wants to know the score
What you went through
It's something you
Should be over now

Everybody wants to hear the secrets
That you never told a soul before
And it's not that strange
Because it wouldn't change
What happened anyhow

But you swore to yourself a long time ago
There were some things that people never needed to know
Guess there's one that you keep
That you bury so deep
No one can tear it out

And you can't talk about it
Because you're following a code of silence
You're never gonna to lose the anger
You just deal with it a different way

And you can't talk about it
And isn't that a kind of madness
To be living by a code of silence
When you've really got a lot to say

You don't want to lose a friendship
There's nothing that you have to hide
And a little dirt
Couldn't hurt no one anyway

And you still have a rage inside you
That you carry with a certain pride
In the only part of the broken heart
That you could ever save

But you've been through it once
You know how it ends
You don't see the point
Of going through it again
And this ain't the place
And this ain't the time
And neither's any other day

So you can't talk about it
Because you're following a code of silence
You're never gonna to lose the anger
You just deal with it a different way

So you can't talk about it
And isn't that a kind of madness
To be living by a code of silence
When you've really got a lot to say

I know you well enough to tell you've got your reasons
That's not the kind of code you're inclined to break
Some things unknown are best left alone forever
And if a vow is what it takes
Haven't you paid for your mistakes

After the moment passes
And the impulse disappears
You can still hold back
Because you don't crack very easily

It's a time honored resolution
Because the danger is always near
It's with you now
But that ain't how it was supposed to be

And it's hard to believe after all these years
That it still gives you pain and it still brings tears
And you feel like a fool
Because it's part of your rules
You've got a memory

But you can't talk about it
Because you're following a code of silence
You're never gonna to lose the anger
You just deal with it a different way

But you can't talk about it
And isn't that a kind of madness
To be living by a code of silence
When you've really got a lot to say