Streetlife Serenaders

(album: Janis Ian - 1978)

Yes I'm out tonight. Look into my eyes
Listen to my heartbeat I could not stay inside
The sound of your city lights, burning bright, heart's delight
The rhythm of the summer heat
And the running feet on the city street
And the sun like wheat fields, waving cartwheels, crazy in the sky
Gauguin in syncopation to the rhythm and the sigh
The echo of your footsteps on the river makes me high
Don't tell nobody I called it, 'cause I think it'll make me cry

Crazy Louie looks for love in every lost saloon
His tension fits him like a glove. He reeks of death and doom
Between the resurrection and the light, I've seen it too
Don't tell nobody I called it I think I'm in love with you

In the local bodega, the ladies are lovely now
And the gold tooth flashing like lightning now
Must be signaling somehow
T the loser in the cellar over there
Another fellow take care
Cinderella's in love with her ashes
Ad the love's not fair

The animals are out tonight. I hear it in the roar
Somebody ought to start a fight,before they start a war
The streets are like a jungle now, with a lock on every door
I'm going back to the city where a whore's a whore

When I get back home, everything'll be right again
When I'm on my own. I can't fight no more, my friend
I got the sound of the jungle ringing in my ears
I can't hear the beginning from the end
And I'm frightened of bending in the wind
And I want to get back to the city again

Your breath is like a hurricane. My heart beats like the sea
Your eyes a broken window pane in the dust of Galilee
My love ran racing through the night
Like a virgin running free
I can't feel the light do away with me
And I want to go back to the city, back to the city
Back to the city again
Back to the city, back to the city
Back to the city again