Streetlife Serenaders - Janis Ian

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