When you're dying on the platform from the heat and the smoke
And the skinny girl from Teaneck thinks it's all some kinda joke
Waiting on the G train and the AC is broke
But thank god for the F train
Some people ride to work some people ride to war
Some people got no idea what they're riding for
Some people get on board just because they shut the door
But thank god for the F train
It might be raining on the surface, coming down in sheets
Forget the car service, nothing's moving on the streets
You gotta get to midtown and there's no service on your phone?
Well get yourself a ticket and join the underground
There's a drummer down in Chelsea trying to get to union hall
There's a real estate broker trying to make that conference call
There's a guy selling umbrellas before the prices fall
They all thank god for the F train
There's a politician out hustling up some votes
There's a statistician counting up some goats
Me, I'm wondering what those girls are hiding in their coats
And here comes the river, you think this baby floats?
You can thank old Ronald Reagan for screwing up the skies
And you can thank the boys at NORML for trying to decriminalize
And you can thank that place in Redhook for those fine key-lime pies
But thank god for the F train
About Love
Well, ever since the day that time began
There's been this thing between a woman and a man
Well, I don't know but I do believe it started in the garden with Adam and Eve
Samson and Delilah had their fling until she cut his hair and clipped his wing
It don't matter how the story's told love stays young, it can't grow old
Let me tell you about love let me tell you about love
Let me tell you about love about the moon and stars above
It's what we've all been dreaming of let me tell you about love
Well, Bonaparte and Josephine I believe they had a pretty good scene
Until she said, Bony boy, we're through that's when he met his Waterloo
Julie baby and Romeo fell in love and stole the show
I know they are history but there ain't been nothing like you and me
Let me tell you about love let me tell you about love
Let me tell you about love about the moon and stars above
It's what we've all been dreaming of let me tell you about love
Now Sheba she was a beauty queen the purtiest thing that you ever have seen
Solomon he was a mighty wise until Sheba she done caught his eye
The world would be in a dreadful fix if it wasn't for the love between the cats and chicks
This world wouldn't amount to much without a hug and a kiss and a tender touch
Let me tell you about love let me tell you about love
Let me tell you about love about the moon and stars above
It's what we've all been dreaming of let me tell you about love
Wake Me When It’s Over
Wake me when it’s over tell me when it’s real
Shake me when we get there when they finally do the deal
Wake me when it’s over tell me when it’s done
When they finally voted you can let me know who won
Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong
But too many people just won’t get along
Got nothing to say but saying it louder and louder and louder
And every day hold someone hostage make somebody pay
Wake me when it’s over when the circus leaves our town
When the lions ate the tamer and then finished with the clowns
Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong
But too many people just won’t get along
Got nothing to say but saying it louder and louder and louder
And every day hold someone hostage make somebody pay
The King of Harlem
The rhythm of New York now that’s what he was talking about
The street of New York the beat in the street of New York
Like the heat in New York in the bathhouses, in the back rooms
In the chicken joints and the cotton clubs beneath the buildings, behind the bridges
Beneath the smoke and the moon beneath the beneath but tunneling up
Tunneling up from the dry feet of New York the beat of New York
Now that’s what he was talking about Pena negra that tortured thing
At the heart of the thing deep beneath the thing but rising rising
Like the Charleston Charleston, Charleston the beating heart of New York
That’s what he was talking about the New York Charleston
That wounded pulse at the heart of New York that’s what he was talking about
Throbbing, throbbing beneath the howling moon where the King of Harlem liked to play it
On a wooden spoon up from the streets up from the feets where that great arsenic lobster
Finally learned how to fly and now the moon is just a slice of radiance divine up in the sky
That’s what he was talking about that’s what he was talking about
Go tell Dali go tell Bunuel go tell the millionaires it’s time to sell
The final foot is on the stairs it’s time to drink the silver whisky
Throw the glass into the brine because it’s time it’s time, it’s time, it’s time in New York
You got no time Baby you got nothing but time you’re hushed by time, crushed by time
Now that’s what he was talking about Pena negra that tortured thing at the heart of the thing
Deep beneath the thing but rising, rising from bathhouses and backrooms
Like refugees they arrived on broken ships and departed with little more than their wits
Ay! Dios mio a broken moon and the word was rising, rising
That’s what he was talking about now that’s what he was talking about
Go tell Dali go tell Bunuel go tell the millionaires it’s time to sell
The final foot it’s on the stairs the spire of smoke is in the air
El mascaron! El mascaron Mirad el mascaron from Africa to the backrooms and backstairs
Of cotton clubs and chicken joints in the moment of dry things and dead things
The beat of New York no retreat in New York from the heat in New York relentless relentlessly
Without mercy across wired bridges above skyscrapers Un milagro! Assesinado por el cielo
A broken moon Howling! Howling El mascaron, el mascaron
A wounded pulse a broken tune now that’s what he was talking about
A is for Alligator
Maybe there’s a way to let the alligator play inside the bathtub
Maybe there’s a way that we can play inside the bathtub too
Maybe there’s a song that you and I can sing along about the bathtub
But if there is it’s just a song about the day that we were alligators too
Once there was a time when all the animals would climb inside the bathtub
The monkey and the lion and the zebra and the alligator too
Once there was a game that all the animals would play inside the bathtub
But now the only game we play is you eat me or baby I’ll eat you
Maybe that’s the reason people finally had to build themselves a zoo
They call it New York City but it’s just another alligator stew
Now you and I are alligators too you and I are alligator stew
