Miles Of Aisles

a case of you


Just before our love got lost you said
"i am as constant as a northern star"
And i said, "constant in the darkness
Where's that at?
If you want me i'll be in the bar"

On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue tv screen light
I drew a map of canada
Oh canada
And your face sketched on it twice

Oh you are in my blood like holy wine
Oh and you taste so bitter but you taste so sweet
Oh i could drink a case of you
I could drink a case of you darling
And i would still be on my feet
Oh i'd still be on my feet

Oh i am a lonely painter
I live in a box of paints
I'm frightened by the devil
And i'm drawn to those ones that ain't afraid
I remember that time that you told me, you said
"love is touching souls"
Surely you touched mine
"cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time

Oh you are in my blood like holy wine
And you taste so bitter but you taste so sweet
Oh i could drink a case of you
I could drink a case of you darling
Still i'd be on my feet
And still be on my feet

I met a woman
She had a mouth like yours
She knew your life
She knew your devils and your deeds
And she said
Color "go to him, stay with him if you can
Oh but be prepared to bleed"
Oh but you are in my blood you're my holy wine
Oh and you taste so bitter, bitter and so sweet
Oh i could drink a case of you darling
Still i'd be on my feet
I'd still be on my feet

Mmmmmmm

There's a man who's been out sailing
In a decade full of dreams
And he takes her to a schooner
And he treats her like a queen
Bearing beads from california
With their amber stones and green
He has called her from the harbor
He has kissed her with his freedom
He has heard her off to starboard
In the breaking and the breathing
Of the water weeds
While she was busy being free

There's a man who's climbed a mountain
And he's calling out her name
And he hopes her heart can hear three thousand miles
He calls again
He can think her there beside him
He can miss her just the same
He has missed her in the forest
While he showed her all the flowers
And the branches sang the chorus
As he climbed the scaley towers
Of a forest tree
While she was somewhere being free

There's a man who's sent a letter
And he's waiting for reply
He has asked her of her travels
Since the day they said goodbye
He writes "wish you were beside me
We can make it if we try"
He has seen her at the office
With her name on all his papers
Thru the sharing of the profits
He will find it hard to shake her
From his memory
And she's so busy being free

There's a lady in the city
And she thinks she loves them all
There's the one who's thinking of her
There's the one who sometimes calls
There's the one who writes her letters
With his facts and figures scrawl
She has brought them to her senses
They have laughed inside her laughter
Now she rallies her defenses
For she fears that one will ask her
For eternity
And she's so busy being free

There's a man who sends her medals
He is bleeding from the war
There's a jouster and a jester and a man who owns a store
There's a drummer and a dreamer
And you know there may be more
She will love them when she sees them
They will lose her if they follow
And she only means to please them
And her heart is full and hollow
Like a cactus tree
While she's so busy being free

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 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 fine

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

Come on, carey, get out your cane
I'll put on some silver
Oh you're a mean old daddy, but 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-welis now
The night is a starry dome.
And they're playin' that scratchy rock and roll
Beneath the matalla moon

Come on, carey, get out your cane
And i'll put on some silver
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 scramblin' down in the street
Now they got me used to that clean white linen
And that fancy french cologne

Oh carey, get out your cane
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 out of sight

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
You don't know what you've got
"Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

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

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

Late last night
I heard that screen door slam
And a big yellow tractor came and
Pushed around my house
Pushed around my land
And I said, don't it always seem to go
You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

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

Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
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 his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and dawn
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we con 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 car wheels thru the town
And they tell him,
Take your time, it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and dawn
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 grandeur
Coming true
There'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

The firmament of tinsel town
Is strung with tungsten stars
Lot's of forty watt successes
He says where's my own shining hour
He's the well kept secret of the underground
He's in debt to the company store
Because his only channelled aspiration
Was getting back that girl he had before
He's got stacks and stacks of words that rhyme
Describing what it is to lose
He's got some just for laughs
He's got some for love
That mainline to his blues
Some to shed a little light on you and on me
Some to shed a little light on the human story

The wars of pride and property
The rebel irish and the promised land jew
Fighting behind his eyes and over seas
Wounded in action and no ceasefire in view
Brave reporters bring the battles home
But tonight inside that box
Just more bang bang ketchup color to him
Just more twentieth century fox
All because that ghostly girl comes haunting
Just out of reach-outside his bed
And she kicks the covers off his sleep
For the clumsy things he said
She commands his head-she tries his sanity
She demands his head-tonight unknowingly

Vaguely she floats and lacelike
Blown in like a curtain on the night wind
She's nebulous and naked
He wonders where she's been
He grabs at the air because there's nothing there
Her evasiveness stings him
With long legs-long lonely legs
Bruised from banging into things
One day he was standing just outside her door
He was carrying an armload of bright balloons
She just laughed
She said she heard him knocking
And she teased him for the moon
"is one the moon, dear clown,
Tied to a string for me?"
He tried but he could not get it down
For truth or for mystery
He tried but he could not get it down
For love or money

I slept last night in a good hotel
I went shopping today for jewels
The wind rushed around in the dirty town
And the children let out from the schools
I was standing on a noisy corner
Waiting for the walking green
Across the street he stood
And he played real good
On his clarinet, for free.

Now me i play for fortune
And those velvet curtain calls
I've got a black limousine
And two gentlemen
Escorting me to the halls
And i play if you have the money
Or if you're a friend to me
But the one man band
By the quick lunch stand
He was playing real good, for free.

Nobody stopped to hear him
Though he played so sweet and high
They knew he had never
Been on their t.v.
So they passed his music by
I meant to go over and ask for a song
Maybe put on a harmony...
I heard his refrain
As the signal changed
He was playing real good, for free.

I am a woman of heart and mind
With time on her hands
No child to raise
You come to me like a little boy
And i give you my scorn and my praise
You think i'm like your mother
Or another lover or your sister
Or the queen of our dreams
Or just another silly girl
When love makes a fool of me

After the rush when you come back down
You're always disappointed
Nothing seems to keep you high
Drive your bargains
Push your papers
Win your medals
Fuck your strangers
Don't it leave you on the empty side
I'm looking for affection and respect
A little passion
And you want stimulation-nothing more
That's what i think
But you know i'll try to be there for you
When your spirits start to sink

All this talk about holiness now
It must be the start of the latest style
Is it all books and words
Or do you really feel it?
Do you really laugh?
Do you really care?
Do you really smile
When you smile?
You criticize and you flatter
You imitate the best
And the rest you memorize
You know the times you impress me most
Are the times when you don't try
When you don't even try

The last time i saw richard was detroit in '68,
And he told me all romantics meet the same fate someday
Cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe
You laugh, he said you think you're immune, go look at your eyes
They're full of moon
You like roses and kisses and pretty men to tell you
All those pretty lies, pretty lies
When you gonna realise they're only pretty lies
Only pretty lies, just pretty lies

He put a quarter in the wurlitzer, and he pushed
Three buttons and the thing began to whirr
And a bar maid came by in fishnet stockings and a bow tie
And she said "drink up now it's gettin' on time to close."
"richard, you haven't really changed," i said
It's just that now you're romanticizing some pain that's in your head
You got tombs in your eyes, but the songs
You punched are dreaming
Listen, they sing of love so sweet, love so sweet
When you gonna get yourself back on your feet?
Oh and love can be so sweet, love so sweet

Richard got married to a figure skater
And he bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolator
And he drinks at home now most nights with the tv on
And all the house lights left up bright
I'm gonna blow this damn candle out
I don't want nobody comin' over to my table
I got nothing to talk to anybody about
All good dreamers pass this way some day
Hidin' behind bottles in dark cafes
Dark cafes
Only a dark cocoon before i get my gorgeous wings
And fly away
Only a phase, these dark cafe days