Big World

I'm not a happy guy
But i'm not always sad
And i'm no millionaire
But i don't do so bad

But no matter who you think you are
There's always someone with a different view
There's always someone thinks he's got a right
To say what's good for you

So how do you know
That the man in the street don't care
And why don't you care
When the man in the street don't know
Anyway

I'm not a clever guy
But i'm sure not that dumb
Don't have the inside news
But i know what goes on

And if you put your faith in god above
Or if you watch the skies for superman
There's always times when you can see the answers
Slip right through their hands

So how do you know
That the man in the street don't care
And why don't you care
When the man in the street don't know
Anyway

So no matter who they think they are
As they tell you who to fight or how to dance
Why don't you give yourself a break
And give us all a chance

'cause how do you know
That the man in the street don't care
And why don't you care
When the man in the street don't know

(on the 10th anniversary of the end of world war ii)

Here in berlin - people line up to get in
To wait for the end - living in glorious sin
They've looked around - and now there is no looking back
To when rivers ran red - now it's the sky that grows black
Shadows are cast as two giants roam over the earth
We light a match - but what is that little flame worth

Once allies danced and sang
But it was forty years ago

Here in d.c. - they talk about 'euro-disease'
And how the french are always so damn hard to please
Otions are passed in brussels but no one agrees
And no one walks tall - but no-one gets down on their knees

Once allies laughed and drank
But it was forty years ago

Where i come from
They don't like americans much
They think they're so loud, so tasteless, and so out of touch
Stiff upper lips are curled into permanent sneers
Self-satisfied
Awaiting the next forty years

Once allies cried and cheered
But it was forty years ago

Looking over hong kong harbour
Throw a shrimp in yellow wine
Eat it when it ceases moving
Just before is fine too
There's an ancient chinese saying
Always seems to slip my mind
Does it really die with honour
Does it really matter
It's a big world - so much to do

Sitting on a beach in bali
Tried to reach and grab a cloud
Looked so much like cotton candy
And i'm feeling god-like
Could it be just what i'm eating
Only mushrooms after all
And with juice of avocado
I should live forever

It's a big world - so much to see much

Sitting on the floor in kyoto
Marvel at the latest catch
Eat it as soon as you are able
Quick before they cook it
There's an eyeball staring at me
And i know i've met my match
Do i eat or am i eaten
It's a new adventure
It's a big world - so much to do
It's a big world - so much to see

From the leningradsky prospekt
On the road to mandalay
There's a new intoxication
Hits you just as you're leaving
Caf

Of all the stupid things i could have thought
This was the worst
I started to believe
That i was born at seventeen
And all the stupid things
The letters and the broken verse
Stayed hidden at the bottom of the drawer
They'd always been
And now i plough through piles
Of bills, receipts and credit cards
And tickets and the daily news
And sometimes i just . . .

Wanna go back to my home town
Though i know it'll never be the same
Back to my home town
'cause it's been so long
And i'm wondering if it's still there

We think we're pretty smart
Us city slickers get around
And when the going's rough
We kill the pain and relocate
We're never married
Never faithful not to any town
But we never leave the past behind
We just accumulate
So sometimes when the music stops
I seem to hear a distant sound
Of waves and seagulls
Football crowds and church bells
And i . . .

Wanna go back to my home town
Though i know it'll never be the same
Back to my home town
'cause it's been so long
And i'm wondering if it's still there

Back to my home town
Though i know it'll never be the same
Back to my home town
'cause it's been so long
And i'm wondering if it's still there

Out to the west there's a trail that leads somewhere
And a call of the wild that takes some people there
Through monument valley to california sun
From new amsterdam to the way the west was won

Well years will go by when you won't get nowhere
You're cold and you're tired and you're free and you don't care

You keep pushin' on when your friends keep turning back
You keep building towns and laying railroad track
And things get crazy and you have to use that sun
And you wonder if this is the way the west is won

But keep thinkin' that way and you won't get nowhere
'cause you got a right just to get where you're goin' to
Gotta keep runnin' gotta be the best
Gotta walk tall in the wild west

You keep on the move or you try to settle down
And there's strangers from further and further away in town
And you give them some tools and they know what must be done
And you know the west was won

And they say . . .
Where i come from, you can't get nowhere
I'm breaking my back for some opportunity
Making my fortune and i'll take it all home
Tell my kids about the wild west

And there's still beauty as the flowers bloom on desert sands
And there's still hope as the sun rises over the rio grande
But it's so crowded now and nothing's simple anymore
And they're still knocking at your door

You hear guns in the night and you hope they're not for you
'cause a dog eats a dog then he eats his master too
In the land of the free and the not so often brave
There's both love or money now choose which you will save

But . . . keep thinkin' that way and you won't get nowhere
'cause you got a right just to get where you're goin' to
Gotta keep runnin' gotta be the best
Gotta walk tall in the wild west

In distant lands
There's no such luxury
You'd give your hand
In pre-arranged matrimony
You'd wear the veil
I'd sit in some cafe somewhere
Instead of this running around
And this right to be free
So pleased with ourselves but there's one thing i've found
About you and me
We can't live together
But we can't stay apart

In all my dreams
I've wanted someone like you
With no extremes
We'd both do what we have to do
But it's too easy, and then it's too hard
And passion gives us away
We know when to play the right cards
But we never know what to say
And we can't live together
But we can't stay apart

Why can't you be more like me
Or me like you
And why can't one and one
Just add to two

But we can't live together
And we can't stay apart

A million tiny lights are strung across the western sky
They burn to light our mission
But it's just a million lonely hearts
Strung out from never asking why
We burn with blind ambition

I heard somebody say
I don't regret my wedding day
But something's wrong
It's not the same
I'm lonely and i'd start again
If i had the time
Precious time

But i don't ask much
Just to keep in touch
And waste a little of your precious time
Waste a little of your precious time

A million dollars never justified a million lies
To jockey for position
And if two hearts can't beat as one
How can a million souls survive
In this world of suspicion


I heard somebody say
I dream about my wedding day
Through lonely nights
I dream of you
A lover though a friend would do
I'd find him if i had the time
Precious time

But i don't ask much
Just to keep in touch
And waste a little of your precious time
Waste a little of your precious time

And just a smile's enough
Just some of that human stuff
And waste a little of your precious time
Precious time

Oh the romance of these harbour towns
Lights that shimmer on canals
And in the bottom of your glass
The air buzzing with foreign tongues
And the occasional cries
Of sailors, tramps and rock 'n' rollers . . .
(hey babe you look so hot tonight
Hey come over here i'll treat you right)
'cause . . .

A man's a man all right
Just like any other man
He'll search the town tonight
For a fifty dollar love affair

And another taste of cheap delight
Street food sizzling outside
Washed down with the local poison
These back alleys with their pinkish lights
And the occasional cries
Of smugglers, bums and credit card holders . . .
(hey babe i feel so good tonight
I got shore leave and i sure ain't leavin' here till i prove that . . .)

A man's a man all right
Just like any other man
He'll search the town tonight
For a fifty dollar love affair