Joni Mitchell
Album - 2006 - Debaser id 828332

Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and
the first thing that I heard
Was a song outside my window, and the
traffic wrote the words
It came ringing up like Christmas bells,
and rapping up like pipes and drums

Oh, won't you stay
We'll put on the day
And we'll wear it till the night comes

Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and
the first thing that I saw
Was the sun through yellow curtain, and
a rainbow on the wall
Blue, red, green and gold to welcome
you, crimson crystal beads to beckon

Oh, won't you stay,
We'll put on the day
There's a sun show every second

Now the curtain opens on a
portait of today
And the streets are paved with passerby
And pigeons fly
And papers lie
Waiting to blow away

Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and
the first thing that I knew
There was milk and toast and honey and a
bowl of oranges, too
And the sun poured in like butterscotch
and stuck to all my senses

Oh, won't you stay
We'll put on the day
And we'll talk in present tenses

When the curtain closes and the
rainbow runs away
I will bring you incense owls by night
By candlelight
By jewel-light
If only you will stay
Pretty baby, won't you
Wake up, it's a Chelsea morning

Bows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air
and feather canyons everywhere, I've looked at clouds that way.
But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on everyone.
So many things I would have done but clouds got in my way.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
from up and down, and still somehow
it's cloud illusions I recall.
I really don't know clouds at all.

Moons and Junes and ferris wheels, the dizzy dancing way that you feel
as every fairy tale comes real; I've looked at love that way.
But now it's just another show. You leave 'em laughing when you go
and if you care, don't let them know, don't give yourself away.

I've looked at love from both sides now,
from give and take, and still somehow
it's love's illusions that I recall.
I really don't know love at all.

Tears and fears and feeling proud, to say "I love you" right out loud,
dreams and schemes and circus crowds, I've looked at life that way.
But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads, they say
I've changed.
Something's lost but something's gained in living every day.

I've looked at life from both sides now,
from win and lose, and still somehow
it's life's illusions I recall.
I really don't know life at all.

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hotspot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to seem 'em
Don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer, farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

I said
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, where are you going
And this he told me...
I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm
I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band
I'm going to camp out on the land
And try and get my soul free

Chorus*
We are stardust
We are golden
We are billion-year-old carbon
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Then can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it's the time of man
I don't know who l am
But life is for learning

*
We are stardust
We are golden
We are billion-year-old carbon
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation

*
We are stardust
We are golden
Caught up in the devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Yesterday, a child came out to wander
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful, when the sky was full of thunder
and tearful at the falling of a star

and the season's they go round and round
and the painted ponies go up and down
we're captive on the carousel of time
we can't return, we can only look
behind from where we came
and go round and round and round in the circle game

then the child moved ten times round the seasons
skated over ten clear frozen streams
words like "when you're older" must appease him
and promises of "someday" make up his dreams

and the seasons, they go round and round
and the painted ponies go up and down
we're captive on the carousel of time
we can't return, we can only look
behind from where we came
and go round and round and round in the circle game

sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
cartwheels turn to carwheels through the town
and they tell him, "take your time, it won't be long now
'til you drag your feet to slow the circle's down"

and the seasons, they go round and round
and the painted ponies go up and down
we're captive on the carousel of time
we can't return, we can only look
behind from where we came
and go round and round and round in the circle game

so the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
though his dreams have lost some gandeur coming true
they'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams, and plenty
before the last revolving year is through

and the seasons, they go round and round
and the painted ponies go up and down
we're captive on the carousel of time
we can't return we can only look
behind from where we came
and go round and round and round in the circle game

and go round and round and round in the circle game

The wind is in from Africa.
Last night, I couldn't sleep.
Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here, Carey,
But it's really not my home.
My fingernails are filthy.
I've got beach tar on my feet.
And I miss my clean white linen and my fancy French cologne.

Oh, Carey get out your cane, and I'll put on some silver.
Oh, you're a mean old daddy, but I like you.

Come on down to the Mermaid Cafe and I will buy you a bottle of wine.
And we'll laugh and toast to nothing, and smash our empty glasses down.
Let's have a round for these freaks and these soldiers,
A round for these friends of mine.
Let's have another round for the bright red devil, who keeps me in this tourist town.

Oh, Carey get out your cane, and I'll put on some silver.
Oh, you're a mean old daddy, but I like you.
I like you, I like you, I like you.

Maybe I'll go to Amsterdam, or maybe I'll go to Rome.
And rent me a grand piano and put some flowers round my room,
But let's not talk about fare-thee-wells now, the night is a starry dome.
And they're playing that scratchy rock 'n' roll beneath the Matalla moon.

Oh, Carey get out your cane, and I'll put on some silver.
Oh, you're a mean old daddy, but I like you.

The wind is in from Africa.
Last night, I couldn't sleep.
Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here, but it's really not my home.
Maybe it's been too long a time since I was scrambling down in the streets.
Now they got me used to that clean white linen and that fancy French cologne.

Oh Carey get out your cane, and I'll put on my finest silver,
We'll go to the Mermaid Cafe, have fun tonight.
I said, oh, you're a mean old daddy, but you're outta sight.

If you're driving into town
With a dark cloud above you
Dial in the number
Who's bound to love you
Oh honey you turn me on
I'm a radio
I'm a country station
I'm a little bit corny
I'm a wildwood flower
Waving for you
I'm a broadcasting tower
Waving for you
And I'm sending you out
This signal here
I hope you can pick it up
Loud and clear
I know you don't like weak women
You get bored so quick
And you don't like strong women
'Cause they're hip to your tricks
It's been dirty for dirty
Down the line
But you know I come when you whistle
When you're loving and kind
But if you've got too many doubts
If there's no good reception for me
Then tune me out, 'cause honey
Who needs the static
It hurts the head
And you wind up cracking
And the day goes dismal
From "Breakfast Barney"
To the sign-off prayer
What a sorry face you get to wear
I'm going to tell you again now
If you're still listening there
If you're driving into town
With a dark cloud above you
Dial in the number
Who's bound to love you
If you're lying on the beach
With the transistor going
Kick off the sandflies honey
The love's still flowing
If your head says forget it
But your heart's still smoking
Call me at the station
The lines are open

He was sitting in the lounge of the Empire Hotel
He was drinking for diversion
He was thinking for himself
A little money riding on the Maple Leafs
Along comes a lady in lacy sleeves
She says...
"Let me sit down you know
Drinking alone's a shame
It's a shame, it's a crying shame
Look at those jokers
Glued to that damn hockey game
Hey honey - you've got lots of cash
Bring us down a bottle
And we'll have some laughs
Gin's what I'm drinking
I was raised on robbery

I'm a pretty good cook
I'm sitting on my groceries
Come up to my kitchen
I'll show you my best recipe
I try and I try but I can't save a cent
I'm up half the night cooking
Trying to make my rent
I'm rough but I'm pleasin'
I was raised on robbery

We had a little money once
They were pushing through a four lane highway
Government gave us three thousand dollars
You should have seen it fly away
First he bought a '57 Biscayne
He put it in the ditch
He drunk up all the rest
That son of a bitch
His blood's bad whiskey
I was raised on robbery

You know you ain't bad looking
I like the way you hold your drinks
Come home with me honey
I ain't asking for no full-length mink
Hey, where you going...
Don't go yet...
Your glass ain't empty and we just met
You're mean when you're loaded -
I was raised on robbery"

Love came to my door
With a sleeping roll
And a madman's soul
He thought for sure I'd seen him
Dancin' up a river in the dark
Looking for a woman to court & spark

He was playing on the sidewalk
For passing change
When something strange happened
Glory train passed through him
So he buried the coins he made in People's Park
And went looking for a woman to court & spark

It seemed like he read my mind
He saw me mistrusting him & still acting kind
He saw how I worried sometimes
I worry sometimes

All the guilty people, he said
They've all seen the stain
On their daily bread
On their Christian names
I cleared myself
I sacrificed my blues
And you could complete me
I'd complete you

His eyes were the colour of the sand & the sea
And the more he talked to me, you know
The more he reached me
But I couldn't let go of L.A.
City of the fallen angels

Help me
I think I'm falling
In love again
When I get that crazy feeling
I know I'm in trouble again
I'm in trouble
'Cause you're a rambler and a gambler
And a sweet talking ladies man
And you love your lovin'
But not like you love your freedom

Help me
I think I'm falling
In love too fast
It's got me hoping for the future
And worrying about the past
'Cause I've seen some hot, hot blazes
Come down to smoke and ash
We love our lovin'
But not like we love our freedom

Didn't it feel good
We were sitting there talking
Or lying there not talking
Didn't it feel good
You dance with the lady
With the hole in her stocking
Didn't it feel good
Didn't it feel good

Help me
I think I'm falling
In love with you
Are you going to let me go there by myself
That's such a lonely thing to do
Both of us flirting around
Flirting and flirting
Hurting too
We love our lovin'
But not like we love our freedom

The way I see it
He said you just can't win it
Everybody's in it for their own gain
You can't please them all
There's always somebody callin' you down
I do my best and I do good business
There's a lot of people askin' for my time
They're trying to get ahead
They're trying to be a good friend of mine

I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
There was nobody callin' me up for favors
And no one's future to decide
You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on
Stokin' the star maker machinery
Behind the popular song

I deal in dreamers
And telephone screamers
Lately I wonder what I do it for
If I had my way
I'd just walk through those doors
And wander down the Champs-Élysées
Goin' café to cabaret
Thinkin' how I'd feel when I find
That very good friend of mine

I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
Nobody was callin' me up for favors
No one's future to decide
You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on
Stokin' the star maker machinery
Behind the popular song