Turnstiles

Oh baby, you don't get turned on by the radio.
Oh baby, you got nothing to play on your stereo.
"why don't the beatles get back together?"
"why don't nobody sing of romance?"-
Oh baby, all you wanna do is dance.

Oh baby, i think you are lost in the seventies.
Oh baby, "the music she ain't what she used to be."
You don't understand what they're saying,
You've given it every chance
Oh baby, all you wanna do is dance.

Well you wish you were back in the good old days,
When tomatoes were cheaper,
And you never heard the words of your favorite songs
Through a three inch speaker.
And you never messed around with dangerous drugs,
You were all getting sick on beer-
And you didn't get any (unless you went steady and made out for a year).

Well you can hide away honey, in your rock and roll dreams,
You can stand by your blue suede shoes-
But the party is over,
And i'm getting tired of waiting for you.

Oh baby, "where are the oldies they used to play?"
Oh baby, you want to crawl back into yesterday,
You don't want to deal with the future,
You don't want to make any plans-
Oh baby, all you wanna do is dance.

They say that these are not the best of times,
But they're the only times i've ever known,
And i believe there is a time for meditation in cathedrals of our own.
Now i have seen that sad surrender in my lover's eyes,
And i can only stand apart and sympathize.

For we are always what our situations hand us...
It's either sadness or euphoria.
And so we argue and we compromise,
And realize that nothing's ever changed,
For all our mutual experience, our separate conclusions are the same.

Now we are forced to recognize our inhumanity,
Our reason co-exists with our insanity.
And though we choose between reality and madness...
It's either sadness or euphoria.

How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies
Perhaps we don't fulfill each other's fantasies.
And so we'll stand upon the ledges of our lives,
With our respective similarities...
It's either sadness or euphoria

I've seen the lights go out on broadway-
I saw the empire state laid low.
And life went on beyond the palisades,
They all bought bright cadillacs-
And left there long ago.

We held a concert out in brooklyn-
To watch the island bridges blow.
They turned our power down,
And drove us underground-
But we went right on with the show...

I've seen the lights go out on broadway-
I saw the ruins at my feet,
You know we almost didn't notice it-
We'd see it all the time on forty-second street.

They burned the churches up in harlem-
Like in that spanish civil war-
The flames were everywhere,
But no one really cared-
It always burned up there before....

I saw the lights go out on broadway-
I watched the mighty skyline fall.
The boats were waiting at the battery,
The union went on strike-
They never sailed at all.

They sent a carrier out from norfolk-
And picked the yankees up for free.
They said that queens could stay,
They blew the bronx away-
And sank manhattan out to sea....

You know those lights were bright on broadway-
But that was so many years ago...
Before we all lived here in florida-
Before the mafia took over mexico.
There are not many who remember-
They say a handful still survive...
To tell the world about...
The way the lights went out,
And keep the memory alive....

Now we take our time... so nonchalant,
And spend our nights so bon vivant.
We dress our days in silken robes,
The money comes, the money goes...
We know it's all a passing phase.

We light our lamps for atmosphere,
And hang our hopes on chandeliers.
We're going wrong, we're gaining weight,
We're sleeping long and far too late.
And so it's time to change our ways...
But i've loved these days.

Now as we indulge in things refined,
We hide our hearts from harder times.
A string of pearls, a foreign car...
Oh, we can only go so far... on caviar and cabernet.

We drown our doubts in dry champagne,
And soothe our souls with fine cocaine.
I don't know why i even care...
We get so high and get nowhere.
We'll have to change our jaded ways...
But i've loved these days.

So before we end (and then begin)-
We'll drink a toast to how it's been...
A few more hours to be complete,
A few more nights on satin sheets,
A few more times that i can say...
I've loved these days.