Lyrics

Just the other day I said

I’d rather kiss the dead

Than sit and watch the time go

Then I was just paralyzed

Now I am hypnotized

Just like a charging rhino

Now I’m back with you

Now I’m back with you

Now that I have been reborn

I’m trading in my horns

For an electric halo

That’ll keep me energized

And keep away the flies

That want to spoil my dayglow

Now I’m back with you

Now I’m back with you

Now I’m back with you

Now I’m back with you

Now I do declare myself

A man of perfect health

You’ve got a fruit in season

Oh, but what am I to do

If all this isn’t true

If you had just been teasing

Once I was the Pumpkin Man

You know I had a wife

But I just couldn’t keep her

Now I’ve got a second chance

And if I dig a hole

… It’s gonna be much deeper.

Now I’m back with you

Now I’m back with you

Now I’m back with you

Now I’m back with you

La, la, la, la, la

Chain link fences kept your senses focused on the drill

Tourists cheered and locals called your name

Marty picked their pockets as you showed off all your skills

Then you split the profits from your game

Took the magic show down to Farrell's Bar

Mesmerized the girls – you were a playground star

Keep on spinning – spin that ball

You offered up a clown show so they pegged you for a fool

First you lost your game and then your head

Now you're on the sidelines but you can't go back to school

Wowing kids with parlor tricks instead

Even you believe that the rim's too high

Wearing polyester suits and your old man's tie

Keep on spinning -- spin that ball

Hating on Marty

Blaming Big Jack

The one brought you down

The one held you back

Running from Jenny

Swimming in Scotch

You aren't wasting time

If you don't check your watch

Till the whistle blows and the hammer drops

Just keep speeding by all the traffic cops

Keep on spinning -- spin that ball

If you want the shot, you've got to know it's all on you

Fashion your own wizard's cap and gown

Stop expecting justice when you're living in a zoo

If you want to be the mayor, better buy the town

Keep on spinning, (keep on spinning)

Keep on spinning, (keep on spinning)

Keep on spinning, (keep on spinning)

Keep on spinning, (keep on spinning)

Keep on spinning, (keep on spinning)

Keep on spinning old friend

Keep on spinning, spin that ball

Got a need to reveal-

A confessional fetish

Think I’ve lost my appeal

I’m not feeling too mannish

When I speak words of love

It’s like bad high school Spanish

How can I keep it real

When my girlfriends all vanish?

If I’m desperate I shoot for the low-hanging fruit

But I’m always prepared for the point of the boot

Just last night I was working this hag down the hall

She said, “Dude you’ve got balls,

But I don’t do booty calls.”

Cynthia- come to me

Cynthia- come to me

Soon I will be fast asleep

Let’s meet somewhere in Italy

Cynthia- come to me

Cynthia- come to me

We’ll make love out on the beach

Let’s write ourselves a history

Well, I love how you smile

I love how you kiss and

I love when we talk you just sit there and listen

You must know by now I’m a man on a mission

I raced home from work, hurried up in the kitchen

A joint and some wine- that’ll settle down my mind

If I’m anxious remind me there’s no one half as kind

Didn’t look in my book

‘Cause I knew what I would find-

Girls who whine, girls who cry

Girls who lie, lie, lie, lie

Cynthia- come to me

Cynthia- come to me

Soon I will be fast asleep

Let’s meet somewhere in Italy

Cynthia- come to me

Cynthia- come to me

We’ll make love out on the beach

Let’s write ourselves a history

And I’ll be splendid in your eye

A Brazilian butterfly

We’ll be naked you and I

You might be bored but you won’t sigh

Just sit tight and mystify

And I’ll be splendid in your eye

A Brazilian butterfly

We’ll be naked you and I

You might be bored but you won’t sigh

Goodnight cruel world

Ah, hell- Goodbye

Cynthia- come to me (Cynthia- come to me)

Cynthia- come to me (Cynthia- come to me)

Cynthia- come to me (Cynthia- come to me)

Cynthia- come to me

Cynthia- come to me

Cynthia- come to me

We can make love all night long

Or at least until I’ve gotta pee.

A toothless cur

All piss and vinegar

Just ask around

I’m not the nicest fella in this town

But I think Lucy’s gonna change me

All of the goodwill I’ve been saving

Goes to my girl next door

She raises me

I could not see

What I had next to me

She’d known it all

Witnessed the rise, the struggle, and the fall

But I think Lucy’s gonna change me

All of the goodwill I’ve been saving

Goes to my girl next door

She raises me

I’m getting slammed by the hands of a wicked clock

Till I want to drop

What’s an old boy to do if he’s gotta rock

Maybe oughta stop

But Lucy has a masterplan

A blueprint for a better man

Now when I hiss

She kills the devil with a healthy kiss

I try to bite

I can’t break skin

If I’m within her sight

So I think Lucy’s gonna change me

All of the goodwill I have been saving

Goes to my girl next door

She raises me

I thought we both knew what we had here

A safe house-- an outpost off the pier

Where the dead catch some life in a room without sighs

Where the walls are indifferent, the bed without ties

After four years of hell I just needed some ice

Don’t think I caught you in the moment

If you were weak you didn’t show it

Well, we logged in some time as we locked up our thighs

And we looked in the mirrors that passed for our eyes

It was air for the drowning not love on the rise

You knew where I stood

When things aren’t good

We all need a remedy

We all need a remedy

I need a remedy now

My mind’s been derailed—won’t you help reconnect it?

I need a remedy now

My spirit’s immune but my body’s addicted

Get past the thinking and the chatter

Desire’s the only thing that matters

When your footing’s unstable you reach for a brace

When your lungs are disabled you find them some space

When my heart has been tabled I pick up the pace

You know where I am

Please come if you can

We all need a remedy

We all need a remedy

We all need a remedy

We all need a remedy

We all need a remedy

We all need a remedy

We all need a remedy

We all need a remedy

We all need a remedy

We all need a remedy

We all need a remedy

Smile girl, smile

Smile that ragged smile

Smile baby, smile

It could carry us awhile

I’ll be burning up come daylight

So let’s go cheap and let’s go dirty

Baby, I’m not watertight

Let’s just close those junky eyes

Swing those hips

Swing those bony hips

There’s no breaking through this grip

I won’t crack those bony hips

Time is running sloppy tonight

And we’ve got greasy appetites

You look ravishing at night

Before the sun cuts junky eyes

Smile girl, smile

Smile that ragged smile

Smile baby, smile

It could carry us awhile

I’ll be burning up come daylight

So, let’s go cheap and let’s go dirty

Baby, I’m not watertight

Let’s just close those junky eyes

Two decades drifting

Too long since I last slept

My boat’s been shanghaied

And I’m wading in on junky eyes

Wading in on junky eyes

Picture me dead

Hard on the table

Head in her soup

Dead in my leather

Pink hat and feather

Picture the skin my bones were too soon to lose

It’s a cold day in Greenwood

It’s a cold day in Greenwood

It’s even colder in here

Rose from the tile floor

Lungs in an uproar

Heart on the loose

No place for soul food with all that bad juice

A chemistry lesson in long-term abuse became…

A cold day in Greenwood

It’s a cold day in Greenwood

It’s even colder in here

Up there got a kid sister

“Hey Tina!”

She’s so old I could be her son—

Could she picture me dead?

Picture me dead

Down the gray hillside

Crows are in free glide

Winter leaves fall—

I am the king of it all

Bones changing color

Framed in my booth

The sewer system leaks and I am flooded with truth

Well, it’s a cold day in Greenwood

It’s a cold day in Greenwood

It’s a cold day in Greenwood

It’s a cold day in Greenwood

It’s a cold day in Greenwood (Ho! Ho! Ho!)

It’s a cold day in Greenwood

And you know it’s even colder

And you know it’s even colder

And you know it’s even colder in here!

The driver never saw me as I slipped onto the bus

Your partner’s on his way now—I’ve chipped off all the rust

The freeze is stuck on Buffalo, but spring is here for us

We’ll meet up in Sedalia at the citadel of meth

My cousin is the king there, but he never saw Macbeth

We’ll hit ‘em hard and leave ‘em scarred and catch our killers’ breath

It’s March baby, I’m in like a Lion

It’s March baby, I’m in like a Lion

We’ll head on down to Morristown where I’ll round up my old crew

I’ll lead ‘em on a treasure hunt, like Pizarro in Peru

You always say you’re new to this, but you know just what to do

It’s March baby, I’m in like a Lion

It’s March baby, I’m in like a Lion

Wood shack and a field of poison wheat

Fuel islands—where the truckers you would beat

The time’s come for boosting up the heat

Well, it all ends in Seattle

Where we’ll leave the boys behind

The cops might hear a rattle, but the bones they’ll never find

Hey, every scene you’ve made with me was always in your mind

The problem with this poem of ours is that you and I are linked

So, I found this muddy river

From which you now must drink

How can you look so pale my love

When I’m so in the pink?

It’s March baby, I’m in like a Lion

It’s March baby, I’m in like a Lion

It’s March baby, I’m in like a Lion

It’s March baby…

Met her in a classroom

At my alma mater true-

A lecture on the works of Albert Camus

Didn’t read a thing

I was merely auditing

Earned my last credits back in ’72

You see, there I was

Dancin’ in her dorm room to a heavy buzz

Reaching for my vial of Viagra ‘cause

I can’t subdue my passion but my blood flow does

Well, there’s no fool

Like an old fool

I’m here for trouble- can you tell me the rules?

I like old stuff

And I’m old school

But I’m still stuck on what the babies can do

Started on the Bo-flex

Looking for some new pecs

I found arthritis and a tubful of Percs

Went for Botox

Till I had to detox

The doctors gave me a perennial smirk

You see, there I am

Helping her to study for a big exam

The book was called “America in Vietnam”

We reached the year that I became Canadian

And there’s no fool

Like an old fool

I’m here for trouble- can you tell me the rules?

I like old stuff

And I’m old school

But I’m still stuck on what the babies can do

In a sweater on the grass

In the fresh New England fall

In my arms, my dream- at last!

Then my baby starts to bawl

She said “Man, it’s really sad-

But I keep thinking ‘bout my dad….”

Now she’s got a new bud

Says he likes to drink blood

Charmed her with a black rose

Posing in her pantyhose

Guess I’ve reached my autumn years

It’s becoming oh so clear, I fear

I’ve seen the last of those fine bottles of wine

Give me one more chance-

Before they toss my old ass in an ambulance

Somehow, I am going to find a new romance-

I must relearn “The Hustle” for the seniors’ dance

And there’s no fool

Like an old fool

I never knew that I could be so uncool

I’m an old hound

And I still drool

Too late to send me to obedience school

And there’s no fool

Like an old fool

I’m here for trouble- can you tell me the rules?

I like old stuff

And I’m old school

But I’m still stuck on what the babies can do

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

La, la, la

You’ve had a twitch since you were three

It goes to spazzin’ when the school bell rings

A bully steals your sneakers, girls shoot spitballs in your face

Sister Irma whacks your knuckles ‘cause you’re lined up out of place

And you ask yourself, well is there life beyond TV?

The days are getting longer grass is greening

Spring is in the air and you need cleaning

The days are getting longer grass is greening

Spring is in the air and you need cleaning

The playground’s rockin’ out it starts you dreaming

Become your life-sized poster of Tom Seaver

Become your life-sized poster of Tom Seaver

You built a shrine to the New York Mets

Troubling your mind are the fortunes of the New York Mets

All your energy is flowing through his mighty, mighty arm

They can cancel spring and summer if it somehow comes to harm

And you ask yourself-

Well, is there life beyond the fortunes of the New York Mets?

The days are getting longer grass is greening (Howl)

Spring is in the air and you need cleaning (Howl)

The days are getting longer grass is greening

Spring is in the air and you need cleaning

The playground’s rockin’ out it starts you dreaming

Become your life-sized poster of Tom Seaver

Become your life-sized poster of Tom Seaver

Jennifer’s heaven for Jenny I’d stay

Skin shining white as a dove

Lying beside her I melted away

Into her river of love

I’m lost in a maze

Counting the ways that she smiles

Time is slipping away

Lost in the arms of her love

So gentle and…

Jennifer’s something you handle with care

Fragile as crystals of glass

Jennifer’s lips are as soft as the air

Kissing her here in the grass

I’m lost in a maze

Counting the ways that she smiles

Time is slipping away

Lost in the arms of her love

So gentle and wild

I’m lost in a maze

Counting the ways that she smiles

Time is slipping away

Lost in the arms of her love

So gentle and…

Jennifer’s heaven, for Jenny I’d stay

Skin shining white as a dove

Lying beside her I melted away

Into her river of love

Into her river of love

Into her river of love

The house I built and bled for

Has been overrun by dogs with hopeful eyes

It’s left to me to cure this plague

And heaven’s gonna hear their hopeless cries

I left a poison trail behind

Those hounds of yours are sure to find

I’ll crawl and crawl and crawl

But I’ll be back

I’m focused on your targets of affection

There’s no ducking my harpoon

The storehouse with the goods that they

Have plundered and defiled will be their tomb

‘Cause off the coast I found a lee

Your sentinels will never see

I’ll crawl and crawl and crawl

But I’ll be back

I’ve counted off the days and nights

No wall that I have faced has gone unmarked

And every moment spent with you—

A prisoner and madman in the dark

You thought that time would weaken me

It broke my heart but not my knees

I’ll crawl and crawl and crawl

But I’ll be back

I’ll be back

I’ll be back

I’ll be back

I’ll be back