Madman Across the Water
Album - 5 novembre 1971 - Debaser id 33

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady
Seamstress for the band
Pretty eyes, pirate smile
You're marrying music man
Ballerina, you must've seen her
Dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me
Tiny dancer in my hand

Jesus freaks, out in the street
Handing tickets out for God
Turning back she just laughs
The boulevard is not that bad

Piano man, he makes his stand
In the auditorium
Looking on she sings the song
The words she knows
The tune she hums

But oh how it feels so real
Lying here, with no one near
Only you, and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly

Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
(repeat)

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady
Seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile
You're marrying a music man
Ballerina, you must've seen her,
Dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me
Tiny dancer in my hand

But oh how it feels so real
Lying here with no one near
Only you and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly

repeat chorus 2x

Levon wears his war wound like a crown
He calls his child Jesus
'Cause he likes the name
And he sends him to the finest school in town

Levon, Levon likes his money
He makes a lot, they say
Spends his days counting
In the garage by the motorway

He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas Day
When the New York Times said God is dead
And the war's begun
Alvin Tostig has a son today

And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Levon
In tradition with the family plan
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Levon

Levon sells cartoon balloons in town
His family business thrives
Jesus blows up balloons all day
Sits on the porch swing watching them fly

And Jesus, he wants to go to Venus
Leaving Levon far behind
Take a balloon and go sailing
While Levon, Levon slowly dies

He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas Day
When the New York Times said God is dead
And the war's begun
Alvin Tostig has a son today

And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Levon
In tradition with the family plan, whoo
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Levon

And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Levon
In tradition with the family plan, whoo
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Levon

I can see very well.
There's a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well.
There's a joke and I know it very well,
It's one of those that I told you long ago.
Take my word I'm a madman don't you know.

Once a fool had a good part in the play,
If it's so would I still be here today?
It's quite peculiar in a funny sort of way,
They think it's very funny everything I say.
Get a load of him, he's so insane
You'd better get your coat dear
It looks like rain.

We'll come again next Thursday afternoon.
The inlaws hope they'll see you very soon.
But is it in your conscience that you're after
Another glimpse of the Madman across the Water.

I can see very well.
There's a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well.
There's a joke and I know it very well,
It's one of those that I told you long ago.
Take my word I'm a madman don't you know.

We'll come again next Thursday afternoon.
The inlaws hope they'll see you very soon.
But is it in your conscience that you're after
Another glimpse of the Madman across the Water.

The ground's a long way down but I need more.
Is the nightmare black
Or are the windows painted?
Will they come again next week,
Can my mind really take it?

Boston at last and the plane's touching down
Our hostess is handing the hot towels around
From a terminal gate to a black limousine
It's a ten minute ride to the Holiday Inn

Boredom's a pastime that one soon acquired
Where you get to the stage where you're not even tired
Kicking your heels till the time comes around
To pick up your bags and head out of town

Slow down Joe, I'm a rock and roll man
I've twiddled my thumbs in a dozen odd bands
And you ain't seen nothing till you've been
In a motel baby like the Holiday Inn

Oh I don't even know if it's Cleveland or Maine
With the buildings as big and rooms just the same
And the TV don't work and the French fries are cold
And the room service closed about an hour ago

We've moved on six miles from where we were yesterday
And yesterday is but a long long ways away
So we'll camp out tonight beneath the bright starlight
And forget rotten peaches and the places we've stayed

I left from the dockland two years ago now
Made my way over on the S.S. Marie
And I've always had trouble wherever I've settled
Rotten peaches are all that I see

Rotten peaches rotting in the sun
Seems I've seen that devil fruit since the world begun
Mercy I'm a criminal, Jesus I'm the one
Rotten peaches rotting in the sun

There ain't no green grass in a U.S. state prison
There is no one to hold when you're sick for your wife
And each day out you'll pick, you'll pick rotten peaches
You'll pick rotten peaches for the rest of your life

Oh I've had me my fill of cocaine and pills
For I lie in the light of the Lord
And my home is ten thousand, ten thousand miles away
And I guess I won't see it no more

If it came to pass that they should ask
What could I tell them
Would they criticize behind my back
Maybe I should let them
Oh if only then and only then
They would understand
They'd turn a full-blooded city boy
Into a full-blooded city man

If they could face it
I could take it in their eyes
Oh I know I'd make it
Their tiny minds
And sacred cows just fake it
If only then and only then
They would understand
They'd turn a full-blooded city boy
Into a full-blooded city man

But I know the way they want me
In the way they publicize
If they could turn their focus off
To the image in their eyes
Maybe it would help them, help them understand
Maybe it would help them, help them understand
Maybe it would help them, help them understand
That a full-blooded city boy
Is now a full-blooded city man

Oh my soul
Oh my soul
Oh my soul