Hejira

I went to staten island.
To buy myself a mandolin
And i saw the long white dress of love
On a storefront mannequin
Big boat chuggin' back with a belly full of cars...
All for something lacy
Some girl's going to see that dress
And crave that day like crazy

Little indian kids on a bridge up in canada
They can balance and they can climb
Like their fathers before them
They'll walk the girders of the manhattan skyline
Shine your light on me miss liberty
Because as soon as this ferry boat docks
I'm headed to the church
To play bingo
Fleece me with the gamblers' flocks

I can keep my cool at poker
But i'm a fool when love's at stake
Because i can't conceal emotion
What i'm feeling's always written on my face
There's a gypsy down on bleecker street
I went in to see her as a kind of joke
And she lit a candle for my love luck
And eighteen bucks went up in smoke

Sharon, i left my man
At a north dakota junction
And i came out to the "big apple" here
To face the dream's malfunction
Love's a repetitious danger
You'd think i'd be accustomed to
Well, i do accept the changes
At least better than i used to do

A woman i knew just drowned herself
The well was deep and muddy
She was just shaking off futility
Or punishing somebody
My friends were calling up all day yesterday
All emotions and abstractions
It seems we all live so close to that line
And so far from satisfaction

Dora says, "have children!"
Mama and betsy say-"find yourself a charity."
Help the needy and the crippled or put some time into ecology."
Well, there's a wide wide world of noble causes
And lovely landscapes to discover
But all i really want right now
Is...find another lover

When we were kids in maidstone, sharon
I went to every wedding in that little town
To see the tears and the kisses
And the pretty lady in the white lace wedding gown
And walking home on the railroad tracks
Or swinging on the playground swing
Love stimulated my illusions
More than anything

And when i went skating after golden reggie
You know it was white lace i was chasing
Chasing dreams
Mama's nylons underneath my cowgirl jeans
He showed me first you get the kisses
And then you get the tears
But the ceremony of the bells and lace
Still veils this reckless fool here

Now there are 29 skaters on wolmann rink
Circling in singles and in pairs
In this vigorous anonymity
A blank face at the window stares and stares and stares and stares
And the power of reason
And the flowers of deep feeling
Seem to serve me
Only to deceive me

Sharon you've got a husband
And a family and a farm
I've got the apple of temptation
And a diamond snake around my arm
But you still have your music
And i've still got my eyes on the land and the sky
You sing for your friends and your family
I'll walk green pastures by and by

No regrets coyote
We just come from such different sets of circumstance
I'm up all night in the studios
And you're up early on your ranch
You'll be brushing out a brood mare's tail
While the sun is ascending
And i'll just be getting home with my reel to reel...
There's no comprehending
Just how close to the bone and the skin and the eyes
And the lips you can get
And still feel so alone
And still feel related
Like stations in some relay
You're not a hit and run driver, no, no
Racing away
You just picked up a hitcher
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway

We saw a farmhouse burning down
In the middle of nowhere
In the middle of the night
And we rolled right past that tragedy
Till we turned into some road house lights
Where a local band was playing
Locals were up kicking and shaking on the floor
And the next thing i know
That coyote's at my door
He pins me in a corner and he won't take "no!"
He drags me out on the dance floor
And we're dancing close and slow
Now he's got a woman at home
He's got another woman down the hall
He seems to want me anyway
Why'd you have to get so drunk
And lead me on that way
You just picked up a hitcher
A prisoner of the white lines of the freeway

I looked a coyote right in the face
On the road to baljennie near my old home town
He went running thru the whisker wheat
Chasing some prize down
And a hawk was playing with him
Coyote was jumping straight up and making passes
He had those same eyes - just like yours
Under your dark glasses
Privately probing the public rooms
And peeking thru keyholes in numbered doors
Where the players lick their wounds
And take their temporary lovers
And their pills and powders to get them thru this passion play

No regrets, coyote
I just get off up aways
You just picked up a hitcher
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway

Coyote's in the coffee shop
He's staring a hole in his scrambled eggs
He picks up my scent on his fingers
While he's watching the waitresses' legs
He's too fat from the bay of fundy
>from appaloosas and eagles and tides
And the air conditioned cubicles
And the carbon ribbon rides
Are spelling it out so clear
Either he's going to have to stand and fight
Or take off out of here
I tried to run away myself
To run away and wrestle with my ego
And with this flame
You put here in this eskimo
In this hitcher
In this prisoner
Of the fine white lines
Of the white lines on the free, free way

I met a friend of spirit
He drank and womanized
And i sat before his sanity
I was holding back from crying
He saw my complications
And he mirrored me back simplified
And we laughed how our perfection
Would always be denied
"heart and humor and humility"
He said "will lighten up your heavy load"
I left him for the refuge of the roads

I fell in with some drifters
Cast upon a beachtown
Winn dixie cold cuts and highway hand me downs
And i wound up fixing dinner
For them and boston jim
I well up with affection
Thinking back down the roads to then
The nets were overflowing
In the gulf of mexico
They were overflowing in the refuge of the roads

There was spring along the ditches
There were good times in the cities
Oh, radiant happiness
It was all so light and easy
Till i started analyzing
And i brought on my old ways
A thunderhead of judgment was
Gathering in my gaze
And it made most people nervous
They just didn't want to know
What i was seeing in the refuge of the roads

I pulled off into a forest
Crickets clicking in the ferns
Like a wheel of fortune
I heard my fate turn, turn turn
And i went running down a white sand road
I was running like a white-assed deer
Running to lose the blues
To the innocence in here
These are the clouds of michelangelo
Muscular with gods and sungold
Shine on your witness in the refuge of the roads

In a highway service station
Over the month of june
Was a photograph of the earth
Taken coming back from the moon
And you couldn't see a city
On that marbled bowling ball
Or a forest or a highway
Or me here least of all
You couldn't see these cold water restrooms
Or this baggage overload
Westbound and rolling taking refuge in the roads

I've got a blue motel room
With a blue bedspread
I've got the blues inside and outside my head
Will you still love me
When i call you up when i'm down
Here in savannah it's pouring rain
Palm trees in the porch light like slick black cellophane
Will you still love me
When i call you up when i get back to town
I know that you've got all those pretty girls coming on
Hanging on your boom-boom-pachyderm
Will you tell those girls that you've got german measles
Honey, tell them you've got germs
I hope you'll be thinking of me
Because i'll be thinking of you
While i'm traveling home alone
Tell those girls that you've got joni
She's coming back home

I've got road maps
From two dozen states
I've got coast to coast just to contemplate
Will you still love me
When i get back to town
It's funny how these old feelings hang around
You think they're gone
No, no
They just go underground
Will you still love me
When i get back to l.a. town
You and me, we're like america and russia
We're always keeping score
We're always balancing the power
And that can get to be a cold cold war
We're going to have to hold ourselves a peace talk
In some neutral cafe
You lay down your sneaking round the town, honey
And i'll lay down the highway

I've got a blue motel room
With a blue bedspread
I've got the blues inside and outside my head
Will you still love me
When i get back to town

Old beale street is coming down
Sweeties' snack bar, boarded up now
And egles the tailor and the shine boy's gone
Faded out with ragtime blues
Handy's cast in bronze
And he's standing in a little park
With a trumpet in his hand
Like he's listening back to the good old bands
And the click of high heeled shoes
Old furry sings the blues
Propped up in his bed
With his dentures and his leg removed
And ginny's there
For her kindness and furry's beer
She's the old man's angel overseer

Pawn shops glitter like gold tooth caps
In the grey decay
They chew the last few dollars off
Old beale street's carcass
Carrion and mercy
Blue and silver sparkling drums
Cheap guitars, eye shades and guns
Aimed at the hot blood of being no one
Down and out in memphis tennessee
Old furry sings the blues
You bring him smoke and drink and he'll play for you
Lt's mostly muttering now and sideshow spiel
But there was one song he played
I could really feel

There's a double bill murder at the new daisy
The old girl's silent across the street
She's silent - waiting for the wrecker's beat
Silent - staring ar her stolen name
Diamond boys and satin dolls
Bourbon laughter- ghosts - history falls
To parking lots and shopping malls
As they tear down old beale street
Old furry sings the blues
He points a bony finger at you and
"i don't like you"
Everybody laughs as if it's the old man's standard joke
But it's true
We're only welcome for our drink and smoke

W.c. handy i'm rich and i'm fay
And i'm not familiar with what you played
But i get such strong impressions of your hey day
Looking up and down old beale street
Ghosts of the darktown society
Come right out of the bricks at me
Like it's a saturday night
They're in their finery
Dancing it up and making deals
Furry sings the blues
Why should i expect that old guy to give it to me true
Fallen to hard luck
And time and other thieves
While our limo is shining on his shanty street
Old furry sings the blues