Tibetan Side Of Town Lyrics - Slice O Life: Bruce Cockburn Live Solo - Bruce Cockburn

Through rutted winding streets of Kathmandu 

Dodging crowded humans, cows, dogs, rickshaws 

Storefronts constellated pools of blue-white 

Bright against darkening walls 

The butterfly sparkle in my lasered eye still seems 

To hold that last shot of red sun through haze over jumbled roofs 

Everything moves like slow fluid in this atmosphere 

Thick as dreams 

With sewage, incense, dust and fever and the smoke of brick kilns and cremations 

Tom Kelly's bike rumbles down 

We're going drinking on the Tibetan side of town 

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Beggar with withered legs sits sideways on skateboard, grinning 

There's a joke going on somewhere but we'll never know 

Those laughing kids with hungry eyes must be in on it, too 

With their clinging memories of a culture crushed 

By Chinese greed 

Pretty young mother by the temple gate 

Covers her baby's face against diesel fumes 

That look of concern, you can see it still 

Not yet masked by the hard lines of a woman's 

Struggle to survive 

Hard bargains going down 

When you're living on the Tibetan side of town 

Big red Enfield Bullet lurches to a halt in the dust 

Last blast of engine leaves a ringing in the ears 

That fades into the rustle of bare feet and slapping sandals 

And the baritone moan of long bronze trumpets 

Muffled by monastery walls 

Photos 

Prayer flags crack like whips in the breeze 

Sending to the world, tonight the message blows east 

Dark door opens to warm yellow room and there 

Are these steaming jugs of hot millet beer 

And I'm sucked into the scene like this liquor up 

This bamboo straw 

Sweet tungba sliding down 

Drinking on the Tibetan side of town