From here to heaven is a scar
Dead center, deep as death
All the idiots have left
The idiots have left
Cows are almost cooing
Turtle doves are mooing
Which is why a Pooh is poohing
In the sun
Sun
There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven
When she gets there, she knows
If the stores are all closed
With a word, she can get what she came for
I’ll build a stairway to Paradise
With a new step ev’ry day!
I’m gonna get there at any price;
Stand aside, I’m on my way!
Stay
Stay here in paradise
Only to stay so lonely
From this maelstrom free are you
Free and lonely
From this maelstrom to be with you
And I’d lay here with you
Whatcha doing tonight?
Haven’t you heard that the world’s gone crazy?
Young Americans, listen when I say
There’s people putting us down
I know they’re saying that we’ve gone lazy
To tell you the truth, we’ve all seen better days
All the way from Washington
Her bread-winner begs off the bathroom floor
We live for just these twenty years
Do we have to die for the fifty more?
All night
He wants the young American
She came in through the bathroom window
Protected by a silver spoon
But now she sucks her thumb and wonders
By the banks of her own lagoon
Have y’all ever listened to lyrics for 50 years and suddenly discovered what they actually said because you looked them up? Astounding.
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don’t they help themselves, Lord?
But when the taxman come to the door
Lord, the house lookin’ like a rummage sale, yeah
On the day that you were born, the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moonlight in your hair
And golden starlight in your eyes of blue
Nobody knows about my man
They think he’s lost on some horizon
And suddenly I find myself
Listening to a man I’ve never known before
Telling me about the sea
All his loves to eternity
Ooh he’s here again
The man with the child in his eyes
Ooh he’s here again
The man with the child in his eyes
You’d better lock you house and keep the kids inside
Here come the twentieth century’s latest scam
He’s a half a boy and half a man
He ain’t a fool but he’s a tool
Because his left don’t know what his right hand’s doin’
He’d keep a King Kong eating out of the palm of his hand
Now he’s a half a boy and half a man
I’m in the middle, the middle of life
I’m a boy and I’m a man
I’m eighteen and I like it
Yes, I like it
Oh, I like it
Love it, like it, love it
Eighteen, eighteen
Eighteen, eighteen and I like it
Oh, she was just seventeen
You know what I mean
And the way she looked was way beyond compare
How could I dance with another
When I saw her standing there?
I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear-skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired
At Seventeen – Janis Ian
-“BB”-
That girl was a one-time teenage drama queen
A hot, tough everyday wannabe
But she’ll have changed her destiny
Now she’s a somebody
That girl was a wild child dreamer
But she’ll find herself
'Cause she believes in nothing else
Then you’ll look back when you won’t believe
That girl was me
There’s a girl
I used to know
Her face is her fortune
She’s got a heart of gold
She never goes out much
But boy, when she does
Then you know
She’s got no money
Well, maybe a dime
But she knows what she’s worth
And that’s reason why
She’s gonna make it
She’s got what it takes
You’ll appreciate that
She’s probably late
But I know
And you know
We all know
She’ll have a really good time
When your belly’s empty, and the hunger’s so real
And you’re too proud to beg, and too dumb to steal
You search the city for your only friend
No one would you see
You ask yourself, "Who could it be?
“That solitary voice to speak out and set me free?”
It’s hard to say it, I hate to say it
But it’s probably me
Melinda was mine
'Til the time that I found her
Holding Jim, loving him
Then Sue came along, loved me strong
That’s what I thought
Me and Sue, but that died too
Don’t know that I will
But until I can find me
The girl who’ll stay
And won’t play games behind me
I’ll be what I am
A solitary man, solitary man
Make me an offer that I can’t refuse
Make me respectable, man
This is my last time in the unemployment line
So like it or not, I’ll take those
Long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my back to the wall
If it takes all night to be just what I am
Well, I’m gonna be a blue collar man
I’d gladly lose me to find you
I’d gladly give up all I got
To catch you I’m gonna run and never stop
I’d pay any price just to win you
Surrender my good life for bad
To find you I’m gonna drown an unsung man
I’d call that a bargain
The best I ever had
The best I ever had