Rich Kid Blues

Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet ?
We sit here stranded, though we're all doin' our best to deny it
And louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of johanna that conquer my mind.

Inside the museums, infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But mona lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, "jeeze
I can't find my knees"
Jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of johanna, they make it all seem so cruel.

The peddler now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for him
Sayin', "name me someone who's not a parasite and i'll go out and say a prayer for him"
But like louise always says
"ya can't look at much, can ya man ?"
As she, herself, prepares for him
And madonna, she still hasn't showed
We see the empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps on the road
He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish trucks that load
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of johanna are now all that remain.

Havin' bad times, now i'm paying dues,
Got shoes and money, good friends, too.
I always play to win, and always seem to lose,
That's why i think i got a rich kid's blues.
That's why i think i got a rich kid's blues.

And i know what's going on,
And i know that the way is too long.
And i know just exactly what's on your mind,
You'll be back and i'll lose you forever.

But i'm wondering why, girl, should i ask your name
All the people standing by, are they in my game ?
Love is just a story, a story without words,
Words are even never seen and never even heard.

And i know what's going on,
And i know that the way is too long.
And i know just exactly what's on your mind,
You'll be back and i'll lose you forever.

Havin' bad times, now i'm paying dues
Got shoes and money, good friends, too.
I always play to win, always seem to lose,
That's why i think i got a rich kid's blues.
That's why i think i got a rich kid's blues.

Mud slide slim and the blue horizon,
Oh, mud slide and depending on you.
I don't know but i've been told
There's a time from time to time
I can't eat, i can't sleep
But i just like to move my feet
'cause there's nothing like the sound of sweet soul music
To change your lady's mind
And there's nothing like a walk on down by the bayou
To leave the world behind.

Mud slide, i'm depending on you,
Mr. mud slide slim on the blue horizon.
I've been letting the time go by, letting the time go by,
Yes, i'm letting the time go by, letting the time go by.

I wanted cash in my hand
Pick upon a piece of land
Build myself a cabin back in the woods.
Lord, it's there i'm gonna stay
Until there comes a day
When this old world starts changing for the good.

Now the reason i'm smiling
Is over on an island
On a hillside in the woods where i belong.
I wanna thank jimmy jimmy john and mick and robbie
Of nojets construction to send me down homestead on a farm.

Oh, mud slide, i'm depending on you.
Mr. mud slim on the blue horizon.
I've been letting the time go by, letting the time go by,
Yes, i'm letting the time go by, letting the time go by.

This morning too didn't rise before noon
She's a lazy lady today.
Always young and new with your eyes on the moon,
You're a crazy lady like you said.
Crazy lady.

Now should i say more before i know you so well ?
You're no hazy maiden in gray.
How can i be sure ? it's not easy to tell,
But you're a crazy lady like you said.
Crazy lady.

You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last.
But whatever you wish to keep, you'd better grab it fast.
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun,
Crying like a fire in the sun.
Look out the saints are coming through
And it's all over now, baby blue.

The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense.
Take what you have gathered from coincidence.
The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets.
This sky, too, is folding under you
And it's all over now, baby blue.

All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home.
Your empty-handed armies are all going home.
The lover who just walked out your door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor.
The carpet, too, is moving under you
And it's all over now, baby blue.

Leave your stepping stones behind you, something calls for you.
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you.
The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore.
Strike another match, go start anew
And it's all over now, baby blue.

Watch out now, take care,
Beware of falling swingers
Dropping all around you
The pain that often mingles
In your fingertips.
Beware of darkness.

Watch out now, take care,
Beware the thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
In the dead of night.
Beware of sadness.

It can hit you
It can hurt you
Make you sore
And what is more,
That is not what
You are here for.

Watch out now, take care,
Beware of soft shoe shufflers
Dancing down the sidewalks
As each unconscious sufferer
Wanders aimlessly,
Beware of maya.

Watch out now, take care,
Beware of greedy leaders.
They'll take you where you should not go,
While weeping atlas cedars,
They just want to grow, grow and grow.
Beware of darkness.