Mingus

Words by joni mitchell
Music by charles mingus

The rain slammed hard as bars
It caught me--by surprise
Mutts of the planet
And shook me down for alibis
I'm waiting
For the keeper to release me
Debating this sentence
Biding my time
In memories
Of old friends of mine ...
In daydreams of birdland
I see my soul on fire
Burning up the bandstand
Next time
I'll be bigger!
I'll be better than ever!
I'll be happily attached
To my cold hard cash!
But now manhattan holds me
To a chair in the sky
With the bird in my ears
And boats in my eyes
Going by

There are things i wish i'd done
Some friends i'm gonna miss
Beautiful lovers
I never got the chance to kiss...
Daydreamin' drugs the pain of living
Processions of missing
Lovers and friends
Fade in and they fade out again
In these daydreams of rebirth
I see myself in style
Raking in what i'm worth
Next time
I'll be bigger!
I'll be better than ever!
I'll be resurrected royal!
I'll be rich as standard oil!
But now--manhattan holds me
To a chair in the sky
With the bird in my ears
And boats in my eyes
Going by

Words by joni mitchell
Music by charles mingus

When charlie speaks of lester
You know someone great has gone
The sweetest swinging music man
Had a porkie pig hat on
A bright star
In a dark age
When the bandstands had a thousand ways
Of refusing a black man admission
Black musician
In those days they put him in an
Underdog position
Cellars and chittlins'

When lester took him a wife
Arm and arm went black and white
And some saw red
And drove them from their hotel bed
Love is never easy
It's short of the hope we have for happiness
Bright and sweet
Love is never easy street!
Now we are black and white
Embracing out in the lunatic new york night
It's very unlikely we'll be driven out of town
Or be hung in a tree
That's unlikely!

Tonight these crowds
Are happy and loud
Children are up dancing in the streets
In the sticky middle of the night
Summer serenade
Of taxi horns and fun arcades
Where right or wrong
Under neon
Every feeling goes on!
For you and me
The sidewalk is a history book
And a circus
Dangerous clowns
Balancing dreadful and wonderful perceptions
They have been handed
Day by day
Generations on down

We came up from the subway
On the music midnight makes
To charlie's bass and lester's saxophone
In taxi horns and brakes
Now charlie's down in mexico
With the healers
So the sidewalk leads us with music
To two little dancers
Dancing outside a black bar
There's a sign up on the awning
It says "pork pie hat bar"
And there's black babies dancing...
Tonight!

Words by joni mitchell
Music by charles mingus

I'm down to a roll of dimes
I'm stalking the slot that's hot
I keep hearing bells all around me
Jingling in the lucky jackpots
They keep you tantalized
They keep you reaching for your wallet
Here in fools' paradise!

I talked to a cat from des moines
He said he ran a cleaning plant
That cat was clanking with coin
Well, he must have had a genie in a lamp
'cause every time--i dropped a dime--i blew it
He kept ringing bells
Nothing to it!

He got three oranges
Three lemons
Three cherries
Three plums
I'm losing my taste for fruit
Watching the dry cleaner do it
Like midas in a polyester suit
It's all luck!
It's just luck!
You get a little lucky and you make a little money!

I followed him down the strip
He picked out a booth at circus circus
Where the cowgirls fill the room
With their big balloons
The cleaner was pitching with purpose!
He had dinos and pooh bears
And lions--pink and blue there
He couldn't lose there!

Des moines was stacking the chips
Raking off the tables
Ringing the bandit's bells
This is a story that's a drag to tell
(in some ways)
Since i lost every dime
I laid on the line
But the cleaner from des moines
Could put a coin
In the door of a john
And get twenty for one
It's just luck!