words and music by Joe Jackson). Take what you want. But just what you need. For survival. . Take what you want. But just what you need. For survival.
Mother doesn't go out anymore. Just sits at home and rolls her spastic eyes. But every weekend through the door. Come words of wisdom from the world outside.
Hot town, summer in the city. Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty. Been down, isn't it a pity?. Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city. . All around, people looking half dead.
At a bar on 43rd at quarter to two. Met my friend the Chinese Elvis and hoisted a few. He talks like Mickey Mouse. And sees with x-ray eyes. Lives in a cardboard house.
Please mister can't you help me try to find my baby's house. It's three in the morning in the pouring rain. I can't find the house and i forgot the number.
You turned me upside down and turned my insides out. But that's alright. You mad me laugh me made me cry then made me shout. But that's alright. But somethings keeps on beating in there.
Now. The mist across the window hides the lines. But nothing hides the color of the lights that shine. Electricity so fine. Look and dry your eyes. . We.
The first time I saw you standing in the water. You must have been all of a thousand feet tall. Nearly naked - unashamed like Herod's daughter. Your love was so big.
Here darkness never quite descends. Only the toughest stars. Hang with neon friends. Over neon candy stores. Till the bitter end. . Oh madness. Waits for me someday.
Every time I turn on the TV it's always the same old tease. See everything you ever dreamed that you could want. But nothing that you need. And every gorgeous girl in Hollywood could soon be mine.
We walked out one autumn evening. Someone up there made a fair appear. Colored light that caught our eyes. And reggae music caught our ears. . We laughed as they played all the songs.
Solo, it isn't a dream. Solo, it's just what it seems. An empty thing. Waitin' on somebody who never calls. Listening in the night to something. Scratching 'round behind the walls.
In my solitude you haunt me. With reveries of days gone by. In my solitude you touch me. With memories that never die.
Strange. How the world got so small. I turned around and there was nowhere left to go. So sad. . The dream always dies. Each new arrival closes places in my mind.
There's a guy goin' round the town. You got to check what he is puttin' down. Just one look you know the story is great. He's the guy the chicks love and the cats can't hate.
We always were the kind of people. To take it hard when things would go wrong. Little things would bother me. And little things would make you cry. And after all the confrontations.
I'm sinking in. To a sea of secrets. Warm and green. Down and down. Back to times and places never seen. Now and then. I can wake and I remember. Just one secret thing.
San francisco fan. Loved a no-good gamblin' man. She drank the coffee dregs. So she could fry his eggs in a golden frying pan. . Can-can-ed by command of the gold rush cafe clan.
Oh Lordy Lord, Oh Lordy Lord. Hurts you go bad for us to part. But some day baby, you ain't gonna worry my life any more. She's on my mind, she's on my mind, every place I go.
When they come to take you down. When they bring that wagon around. When they come to call on you. And drag your poor body down. . Just one thing I ask of you.