 All songs c Gallup/Gallway/Marotta (Flyaway Hair, Gallway Bay Music, Big Boy Underpants, ASCAP) except “Jake & The Five Plaids” c Peter Gallway (Gallway Bay Music, ASCAP) and “Leave Most Of It Out,” c Annie Gallup (Flyaway Hair, ASCAP). ALL RIGHTS RESERVED .1 August Sin 2 Getaway Car 3 Six Bucks Shy 4 Mercury 5 City Lights 6 Blow By Blow 7 Jake & The Five Plaids 8 He Did What He Wanted 9 Echo Echo 10 What Hemingway Said 11 Leave Most Of It Out 12 Remember 13 Cigarette Girl August Sin Jesus it’s hot, she says, and stretches like a cat For off east the heat lightening flashes It’s too hot to wear clothes It’s too hot to think Too hot to move or even drink whisky Traffic died mostly hours ago And the sweat won’t dry, sheets twisted and thrown Oh my, God what you do How can you move this way? Sacred and profane The fire and the flame Skin to skin, notify my next of kin We won’t talk about him or her or them It’s just me and you, no need to pretend In this river I’ll dive and spin ‘til the darkness ends Saint Cecelia, are you there? Can you hear my prayer? Let this night go on forever Let morning never come But hell there’s nothing to do, nothing to say Except how can you move so soft and slow How can your hands know to touch me so I forget my own name, forget where I’ve been In the fire and the flame of August sin Skin to skin, notify my next of kin We won’t talk about him or her or them Here in this room, no need to pretend In this river we’ll dive and spin ‘til the darkness ends Jesus it’s hot, she says, and stretches like a cat Getaway Car He’s idling at the curb in front of JT’s jewelry store While I slip between the lines I strip the watchcase while the clerk lies on the floor And pocket a little diamond ring I wish was mine A diamond ring, a diamond ring, a diamond ring is a getaway car A pretty girl flies under radar, if she’s not too pretty Drop this one at the curb and she disappears I could hit the gas and not look back; could get out of this city Could sell her down the river. They would lock her up forever But I’d be gone, I’d be gone, I’d be gone in the getaway car I’ll never know what I would have done But somewhere in Oklahoma Somewhere in Oklahoma A wild horse runs I remember what you told me, walk calmly to the curb, and there you are Just like you said you’d be And we are flying; everything’s alright, the traffic parts for your fast car Ask me anything right now I’ll say yes, baby ask me I want you, I want you, I want you to be my getaway car I’ll never know what I would have done But somewhere in Oklahoma Somewhere in Oklahoma A wild horse runs I always liked this time of day, when the sun slants gold and red On the corn field stubble I’m going out for smokes, I said, and left her lying on the bed At the Black Oaks Inn, with a little 32 for her trouble The open road, the open road, the open road loves a getaway car I’ll never know what I would have done But somewhere in Oklahoma Somewhere in Oklahoma A wild horse runs When I was little, I’d look up at the night sky full of diamonds Pretending one of them was mine No stars out tonight under these motel parking lot lights But my stolen diamond solitaire sparkles and shines Six Bucks Shy I shouldn’t have done it Annie But the wheels started coming off a long time ago The first night I ducked out the back with Frank And we took off that liquor store Annie I don’t understand it But there’s one thing I know for sure I’m six bucks shy of a grand tonight And it’s six grand they’re waiting for Annie I gotta go out tonight Annie please don’t turn away Annie I know things will be all right How I just can’t say I remember those nights in the neighborhood Singing “Walk Like a Man” Train out to Rockaway Annie Chasing you down in the sand How did it get to be this way? Is this what it means to be a man? I’m shy of a grand tonight Six grand is gonna make it right Annie I gotta go out that door Annie please don’t turn away Annie I know what you’re hoping for But there are things I just can’t say The river shines like diamonds The river is cold as steel Sometimes I stare down from the bridge And want to step over the rail Annie I gotta go back out Annie please don’t turn away Annie I know this will turn out right But just how I’m not gonna say No I shouldn’t have done it Annie I would lie but I just can’t If I hadn’t been packing that night I’d have walked away from that man And if there’s some kind of justice There’s one thing that I know for sure I’m six bucks shy of a grand tonight It’s six grand they’re waiting for Annie I gotta go out tonight Annie please don’t turn away Annie I know things will be all right How I just can’t say Annie it’ll be all right Mercury You were eighteen and bewildered. She was seasoned. That much I know is true And I know she was half famous and half a stranger, Aand I know it was she who chose you And you were still hungry, clumsy and free She laid claim to you so undeniably It was forthright, fierce and unequivocal It was mercury on a dark river She took you to her room, shut the door, then stepped out of her dress Her body was wiry and copper, unexpectedly androgynous You won’t remember stripping off your clothes, but you did, trembling Hopping for balance, shedding your soft things Until you shone like chrome, or steel or silver Like mercury on her dark river She conjured up a man for you to be, and you were, She bent you like a baby in the womb Once she put a needle in your arm, Tthere was no reason to ever leave that room In the blurry half light of the infinite strange She gave everything, took everything, it was a fair exchange You were breathless, manifest, and delivered You were mercury on a dark river Did you really believe it could go on and on? Did it burn fire when she told you to go? Did you smother that fire with gasoline, Just to watch your long dark shadow? When I met you on the midway there was no question, Still we fumbled our first tender half kiss I’ve lived long and lost and hard enough, love, Tto know what it’s worth to feel like this And I know that truth is beyond bargaining Everything is haunted by everything We are stardust, golden, we are forgiven We are mercury on a dark river City Lights Plath, Lorca, Kerouac City Lights second floor bright Up the stairs and in the backI watch them both, how can it be? Is she with him, how can it be? He’s holding forth as if she’s never read a book 70’s collar and all, as if he’s from a Dirty Harry movie He’s thinking, “Come on Edie, make my day ”Plath, Lorca, Kerouac…She holds his flowers close to her chest Gift paper wrapped with him talking that crap As fast as he can, as fast as he can As fast as he canI watch them both, Rimbaud in my hands How can it be, is she with him? Insufferable him, how can it be, insipid collar Oh come on Edie, no he’s not in your movie Oh Come on Edie, make my day Plath, Lorca, Kerouac… Blow By Blow Joey isn’t listening, so I tell him everything I need to say what I need to say, and Joey needs a ’65 mustang convertible, dark red with a black roof, quarter panel painted purple But nobody answers Joey when he phones the number on the windshield So we both come up empty. Joey, I say, I know exactly what it’s worth and how you feel. Joey says he never stays anywhere for long, he can’t plan past Saturday, and he won’t let me believe in the peace I believe I feel when he is lying asleep like a child in my arms But I know he stayed in one place long enough once to make a son named Junior then another named Sydney Then he scared himself so bad he left for good before he broke them like dolls The night Oscar de la Hoya went down with a left hook to the kidney Blow by blow, blow by blow, boxing a shadow, talking a blue streak Say who says nobody wants to see that pretty face bruised and bleeding on the pages of Newsweek, no, blow by blow,Joey buys a derelict Cutlass Supreme and drives off with a roar in a cloud of dirty air. Here’s what I told him, the other night, when he was too high on his ambition to care I said, “Joey I’m lost, I’m running from the past. I went flying down a flight of stairs then let my father sign my cast I’ll be racing that shadow a hundred years, chased down just when I think I get clear Joey though you’re as good as gone Even half your heart could be the best thing I’ve ever known If you’re as good as gone Can I thank you for leaving me without breaking my bones?” Blow by blow, blow by blow, boxing a shadow, talking a blue streak Say who says nobody wants to see that pretty face bruised and bleeding on the pages of Newsweek…But Joey isn’t listening^ Jake & The Five Plaids It was everybody’s neighborhood long before things got bad It was the next town up from the city line there behind the railroad tracks Well he boys on the boulevard were singing them songs “Good boys,” is what they said They were standing on the corner giving their best Yes it was Jake & The Five Plaids Jake & The Five Plaids, singing ooh-mao-mao-mao clapping their hands Hey earth angel don’t you look bad, Jake & The Five Plaids Vinnie on top, Grady was the number two Don’t forget Ace, J.J. on the bass, Jake in the pointy black shoes Jake & The Five Plaids…Jake & The Five Plaids, singing ooh-ma-ma-ma-ma, mm-ma-ma-ma Hey earth angel take me by the hand, jump on back to the Palisades Playland They went doo-doo-doo… Jake & The Five Plaids… Jake’s in the city and Vinnie made jail and J.J. took it in a Vietnam field But Ace and Grady they got this bar in town and every so often they buy the house a round And then somebody starts it with an ooh-mao-mao Yes somebody starts it with an ooh-mao-mao And it might just as well be then as now Jake & The Five Plaids… He Did What He Wanted He did what he wanted His house is pure haunted You get it you got it He got it for sure He did what he wanted You break it you bought it He faked it and fought it And slammed the back door He did what he wanted He dropped back and punted Taunted and sauntered Stretched ‘til it tore He did what he wanted to do Every since he was seventeen And waiting for the crosstown bus With the girls passing by And you and me leaving him in the dust Saying, “Charlie, he’s not one of us” He did what he wanted Besotted, undaunted He plotted, forgot it And slept on the floor He did what he wanted to do Every since he was seventeen Riding on the downtown train With the girls in their stack-heel boots Swaying to the music playing in his brain Saying, “Charlie, come in out of the rain” He did what he wanted The wife or the daughter He ran ‘til he caught her What you come here for? He did what he wanted Flaunted, boycotted Crossed it and dotted And settled the score He did what he wanted The house is pure haunted You get it you got it He got it for sure He did what he wanted to do Every since he was seventeen And waiting for the crosstown bus With the girls passing by And you and me leaving him in the dust Saying, “Charlie, he’s not one of us ”You did it, you got it, you did it… Echo Echo Foxtrot romeo echo echo He’s somewhere in North Africa Or in the south pacific He couldn’t be specific I’m on the train to Paris and I’m free Foxtrot romeo echo echo Our last night in London As we danced to Bud Young’s Bravo Yankee Band The lights went out, but he held tight to my hand Like he’d never let me go and I’m free Foxtrot romeo echo echo Do you remember when the ground shook and sirens sounded I pressed against your chest while your steady heart pounded And even once the danger passed and the band struck up ‘Til Reveille You held me close, forever bound together and I’m free Foxtrot romeo echo echo His father was a soldier in the great war He told stories of brotherhood and muc And missions drenched in sweat and blood He said – my father’s war is my legacy I’m following his footsteps and I’m free Foxtrot romeo echo echo What Hemingway Said What Hemingway said You put down the pen Knowing where to begin In the morning What Hemingway said You put down the pen Knowing where to begin When the next morning comes What Hemingway said You put down the pen Knowing where to begin In the morning A corner café, a writer who writes Pen to the paper, words ringing true You’ve known all along it would be just like this Finding the lines you didn’t know you knew Where the world starts to slow The voice soft and sure The city in motion, the story is yours You hear what Hemingway said… Walk to the river it is there that you see her (Bridge across the river) You’ve loved her forever, you say it went well (There you are, de tout mon Coeur) She’s been in rehearsal, sets down her cello (The Debussy, Clair de Lune) There’s so much to tell (There’s so much to tell)What Hemingway said… The flat holds the chill in the slant of the dusk Take off your shoes, time slips away In winter light she sets strings to her shoulder You open the page there’s so much to say Where the world starts to slow The voice soft and sure The city in motion, the story is yours What Hemingway said… Leave Most Of It Out If you want to tell a story, leave most of it out That’s what you told me once. We were drinking vermouth I said, if I had gin I’d have made martinis You said, here’s to the acquired taste of straight truth Everything I remember, the edited stories The stub of a candle left burning all night A newspaper clipping, the jack of hearts doorway A half finished song in the harsh kitchen light I remember you took the bus to the towers Walked straight through Manhattan in thrift store Italian shoes From Battery Park all the way to the Bronx The straight truth from Broadway and 3rd Avenue The year of the sirens I dialed and dialed Then hung up the phone. Not my turn to cry A story too wrong to tell any part So I left everything out each time I tried But your daughters played violin under the willows Your eyes were the crescent moon when you laughed The apartment smelled like a Chinese laundry With pigeons calling in the airshaft When the story’s over, what’s left to leave out? Week after week you were good for a song But you went where you went, left the song unwritten That’s how I know you’re gone Surrender control, the melody matters Insight and process are half of what it’s about And the other half’s magic, that’s what you said And if you want to tell a story, leave most of it out Remember I remember you at the Blue Twilight Your hair shown copper in the neon light You set down your glass, stretched like a cat Rested your head on my arm I remember that I remember you at the Black Oaks Inn Restless, sleepless and rambling on While I drifted off in a blurry dream You slept at last and I awoke When morning broke I remember you on the train to Paris In stack heel boots and a black beret Your face mirrored back on the window glass As the sun slanted gold and red And field flew past I remember you at the edge of the dusk By the cold steel rail of the bridge While the river shown like diamonds below And seabird circled above Untroubled love I remember you on Sullivan Street In a sweet black dress, a dangerous restlessness You took off your hat, shook the hair from your face Turned to me like a dancer I waited for your answer I remember you on Bleeker Street In a sharp dark suit and Italian shoes Your hand so sure on the small of my back Like a question or a claim The sky held rain The unspoken answer of a kiss in falling mist Cigarette Girl It starts to rain when he crosses Jane Street He ducks inside where it’s warm and dry The band’s into their set, a tenor quartet And in the candlelight he shakes out a cigarette What’ll it be, says Frank, make it a JTS neat He scans the room, light on his feet Another night in cool cut-time Whisky soft as smoke; the horn hits the nine She works the room easy money Dangerous shoes, “what time you get off, honey?” Mister what you see is what you’ll never get Check your hat – cigars, cigarettes A smoke, a joke, duck the hands of Manny the owner The girls are all right but the boss gets tight At the Blue Twilight working four sets Check your hat? – cigars? cigarettes? Cigarette Girl Cigarette Girl Who’s going to buy you a ticket All the way around the world He comes back into the room to Dizzy’s tune Did she look his way – is she April, or June She’s an ordinary girl with an extraordinary smile But nothing ordinary and they’re all missing you by a mile Cigarette Girl Cigarette Girl If I could I’d buy you a ticket, I would All the way around the world The rain lets up just around 2 She totals her tips as he watches for a clue Pulls on his coat, hit hat just so One more glance as he turns to go Cigarette Girl Cigarette Girl If I could I’d buy you a ticket, I would All the way around the world |