I’ll be working long as my two hands are fit to use
I’ll drink my little beer in a tavern
Sing a bit of these working man blues
This song is for the working man…
Saturday night I was downtown
Working for the FBI
Sitting in a nest of bad men
Whiskey bottles piling high
Bootlegging boozer on the west side
Full of people who are doing wrong
Just about to call up the D.A. man
When I heard this woman singing a song
Darkness falls and the night’s begun,
The river of light burns as bright as the sun,
Under the waning moon is danger to be found,
For the man with the badge in the night,
The man with the badge in the night.
What’s his name?
Mr. Downtown, Mr. Downtown,
Mr. Downtown, Mr. Downtown…
Wait a minute, something’s wrong
He’s the man from the past
He’s here to do us a favor
A little human sacrifice
It’s just supply and demand
Mr. Kamikaze, Mr. DNA
He’s an altruistic pervert
Mr. DNA, Mr. Kamikaze
Here to spread some genes now
Hey! You’re young and swinging,
No time to think about tomorrow,
But there ain’t no use in denying it,
Someday, you’re gonna buy it,
So get yourself to Ferriman tomorrow!
Ferriman, Ferriman,
He’s the man with the plot; the man with the plan,
Ferriman, Ferriman,
He’s the mortician man who loves you…
… a lot!
I used to love the mortician’s daughter
We drew our hearts on the dusty coffin lids
My sweetheart has gone
And I’m so lonely
She said that she and I were through
So I started out drinkin’ for past time
Drivin’ nails in my coffin over you
I’m just drivin’ nails in my coffin
Every time I drink a bottle of booze
I’m just drivin’ nails in my coffin, Lord
I’m drivin’ those nails over you
And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes, they’re sharing a drink they call loneliness*
But it’s better than drinkin’ alone
*I always make this internal line rhyme by singing “Yes, they drink to excess and to loneliness”
Lonely days, lonely nights.
Where would I be without my woman?
Well, since my baby left me, I found a new place to dwell
Down at the end of Lonely Street at Heartbreak Hotel
Well I get so lonely, baby, I get so lonely, I get so lonely I could die
Good morning mister sunshine, you brighten up my day,
Come sit beside me in your way.
I see you every morning, outside the restaurants,
The music plays so nonchalant.
Lonely days, lonely nights,
Where would I be without my woman?
Hello, window (hello, hello)
Well, I see that you’re still here
Aren’t you lonely?
Since our darlin’ disappeared?
Well, look here, is that a teardrop in the corner of your pane?
Now, don’t try to tell me it’s rain…
I know you got some sweet memories
But like a window, you aint got nothing to say
Chambois, cleaning all the windows
Singin’ songs about Edith Piaf’s soul
And I hear blue strains of “No Regredior”
Across the street from cathedral Notre Dame
Meanwhile, back in San Francisco
We’re tryin’ hard to make this whole thing blend
As we sit upon this jagged
Story block, with you, my friend
Strobe lights beam create dreams
Walls move minds do too
On a warm San Franciscan night
I left my heart in San Francisco
High on a hill
It calls me still…
If you’re going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you’re going to San Francisco
You’re gonna meet some gentle people there
For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
San Francisco, open your golden gate
You’ll let nobody wait outside your door
San Francisco, here is your wanderin’ one
Saying I’ll wander no more.
Well, I’m the type of guy who will never settle down
Where pretty girls are, well you know that I’m around
I kiss 'em and I love 'em, cause to me they’re all the same
I hug 'em and I squeeze 'em, they don’t even know my name
They call me the wanderer
Yeah, the wanderer
I roam around, around, around
My mama was the cold North wind,
My daddy was the son of a railroad man from west of hell,
Where the trains don’t even run…
Never heard the whistle of a southbound freight,
Or the singing of it’s driving wheel,
No I never did no wanderin’
Never did no wanderin’
Never did no wanderin’ after all.