It was a worn out day and the pavement ash blew me along the street
When I saw your face it hit me like a lash or a bolt of solid heat
You'd knelt to pray with the tramps in the trash in a dress so white & neat
How could it not leave an impression?
I should've known fate would decide I'd be the next one you'd treat
I should've known it was a lie when I said I was not a cheat
And promised the rainbows of my mind if you could just find me something to eat
How could you resist my desolation?
You might say a downbeat aesthete is more than a bum
I never said that's what I was but the part describes me some
Still wish u hadn't pegged me as one.

Ur prophets protest as they eat filet that you & I were meant to be
They say little jester you're on your way, I find that hard to believe
Though I'm well-dressed I just get depressed over the fat magistrate who knighted me
I did not think much of me
Your parents coo over liver & veal of how we fit so nicely
Like brokedown shoes with a worn out heels their voices flap by me
If it were news that I could steal you for your money, it wouldn't surprise me
How can I convince you not to fight for me?
You might say a rought start and cold heart are things to overcome
Well, it just takes one to fall apart and go back where he's from
I can't be caught playing dumb

The ladies of the night on the boulevard they feel my pain
I used to see them twice to walk the graveyard & echo my refrain
That when I come home there are no lights and my heart starts at the howl of the train
It seems you don't mind going to bed without me
The nuclear rats in the city sewers can drink my champagne
While in the chats of your garden hewers who the hedges they derange
I hear you brag of how I'm living truer, that's a frightful strain
Why do you tell them & not me?
Who's to blame for all these aims that never helped anyone.
It's just a game that makes me say my heart weighs a ton
When I never tried ramblin neath the sun

You'll still have your flock of geese & peasants daughters to attend
So when I get mocked by ur police won't you wait round the bend
There will be the socks of other destitutes to mend
Go to them now and not to me
Ur profiteers/privateers wear hearts on sleeves they're following the trend
Ur old rough muskateers with pipes in teeth, even they comprehend
But it's the balladeers on the corners streets who have my sentiments to vend
Have you not heard the paper boy say to me?
That when the world comes to its end and the dream is undone;
and the hands you lend and money you spend don't make no friends and it's no more fun
to be the one who cranks the sun
(Baby, then its done)


You always thought I was so good, maybe now you know
That when I talked to you in the 'hood' it was not because you were so
appealing to me, no, I just thought I ought to make a show
Of trying to look a little bit happier
But now it strikes me that at the time I was living like a ghost
I could not honestly name my desire for fear I'd offend my host
But just some company in bed and wine was what I wanted the most
But now you won't ever, will u, be much of a drinker?
For being mean and the need to bleed I can't be overcome
I know pettiness & ingratitude don't make for much of a good chum
I'd cheer you for beating that drum

I used to take you round the slums to look for those in want
I used to take you while you'd hum of how my face looked so gaunt
I used to take you for kind of numb to my ghastly holy font
But lately I've been wonderin
Why it was you took me to your arms at all
Why you used all your charms to keep me so small
Was there some harm in my way you didn't want me to befall
What if the harm was just remainin?
You know my heart honey it stays with you
I don't what I'd do with it, anyway, it isn't very true
& I just cannot reckon with the part of me that feels you been used
so please won't you just let me go now?
You'd be right to say it took me just as long to run
As it did for you to go on prentendin I'd ever be won
To the settled life I swore yesterday to shun
O, baby now its done