October Blues

(album: Lunch In The Park - 2021)

I can't tell the smoke from the fog, oh my love
I can't see the bridge today from my bay window, oh my love
Lonely, lonely days, just me and a Fante book and your cat
I can't wait for you, I can't wait for you to come back

I need your love like a crack addict needs crack
In the flower pot that's sits on my fire escape
The mother dove and her young ones are long gone
Over the summer they flew away

Last night I came home the studio and I cried
Looking at old photos of myself in a cabin in West Virginia when I was a child
I used to spend all day catching salamanders in the steam
And me and my dad would catch catfish
And trout and cook 'em up in the firepit with my family

I only have a few memories of each year of my elementary school life
In kindergarten I used to nap on a rug that looked like a huge green dollar bill
In the first grade I remember them dousing my hair for lice
And getting a shot for chicken pox
And in the second grade I remember tornado drills
In the third we had a project where we buried time capsules
Mine had cut outs of David Bowie and Patti Smith and Led Zeppelin articles

When I looked at the other kids capsules, I knew I was on a different path than the other kids
In the fourth grade on Music Day I brought Alice Cooper Goes to Hell
And a kid we called John the Baptist had to leave during that portion
Rock 'n' roll was against his religion

Now I walk through the San Francisco streets and I see all the seagulls and the pigeons
And I carry this weight it's called middle-aged depression
I have so many friends whose mothers and fathers passed of cancer at 59
And hey I'll be 59 in five years' time

Baby, baby when you coming I need you in my corner
Like Ali needed Dundee like Duran needed Ray Arcel
You're my everything, you're my best friend, and you're my lover
If they put a gun on me I would never trade you for another

Oh yeah I got the October blues
When I walk it's like I got cement in my shoes
Oh yeah I got the October blues
The California fires keep burning the smoke oozing and oozing
Oh Yeah I got the October blues
I look out my window
And everyone has moved
Oh yeah I got the October blues
Oh yeah I got the October blues
Throughout the day and night all I hear are sirens
I watched the debate the other night where Trump abrasively interrupted Joe Biden
I'm making peace with these ordinary life watching news days
When I go to sleep I see the lambent light of my candle flickering
The heat wave is so bad I use it to kill off the mosquitoes
When I fall asleep I see spooky apparitions
The walks along the plywood storefronts don't do much for my emotional condition
I got no job. got no travel, I got no paycheck
But you're coming home on Tuesday and that beats the fuck out of a tour date
In Quebec

Talked to a friend in New York this morning
Today their putting their family dog to sleep
And I talked to another friend last week
Whose house burned to the ground in Berry Creek

And I'm sitting here in the studio sticky from the heat
Counting my blessings
So I don't have hits like Johnny Cash or Waylon Jennings
And there's so many weddings and funerals that by zoom we're all attending
But time with you I know I'll soon be spending
And that's The October Blues ending