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Billy Joel lyrics
Album: Songs in the Attic [1981]
| Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway) | |
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Seen the lights go out on broadway
I saw the Empire State laid low
And life went on beyond the Palisades
They all bought Cadillacs
And left there long ago
They held a concert out in Brooklyn
To watch the island bridges blow
They turned our power down
And drove us underground
But we went right on with the show
I've seen the lights go out on Broadway
I saw the ruins at my feet
You know we almost didn't notice it
We'd seen it all time on Forty-second Street
They burned the chuches up in Harlem
Like in the Spanish civil war
The flames were ev'rywhere
But no one really cared
It always burned up there before
I've seen the lights go out on Broadway
I watched the mighty skyline fall
The boats were waiting at the battery
The union went on strike
They never sailed at all
They sent a carrier out from Norfolk
And picked the Yankees up for free
They said that Queens could stay
And blew the Bronx away
And sank Manhattan out at sea
You know those lights were bright on Broadway
That was so many years ago
Before we all lived here in Florida
Before the Mafia took over Mexico
There are not many who remember
They say a handful still survive
To tell the world about
The way the lights went out
And keep the memory alive
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| Summer, Highland Falls | |
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They say that these are not the best of times
But they're the only time I've ever known
And I believe there is a time for meditation
In cathedrals of your own
Now I've seen that sad surrender in my lover's eyes
And I can only stand apart and sympathize
For we are always what our situations hand us
It's either sadness or euphoria
So we'll argue and we'll compromise
And realize that nothing's ever changed
For all our mutual experience
Our separate conclusions are the same
Now we are forced to recognize our inhumanity
And reason coexist with our insanity
And our reason coexist with our insanity
It's either sadness or euphoria
How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies
Perhaps we don't fulfill each other's fantasies
And as we stand upon the ledges of our lives
With our respective similarities
It's either sadness or euphoria
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| Streetlife Serenader | |
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Streetlife serenader
Never sang on stages
Needs no orchestration
Melody comes easy
Midnight masquerader
Shoppin' center heroes
Child of Eisenhower
New world celebrator
Streetlife serenaders
Have such understanding
How the words are spoken
How to make the motions
Streetlife serenaders
Have no obligations
Hold no grand illusions
Need no stimulation
Midnight masqueraders
Workin' hard for wages
Nedd no vast arrangement
To do their harmonizing
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| Los Angelenos | |
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Los Angelenos
All come from somewhere
To live in sunshine
Their funky exile
Midwestern ladies
High-heeled and faded
Drivin' sleek new sports cars
With their New York cowboys
Hiding up in the mountains
Laying low in the canyons
Goin' nowhere on the streets
With the Spanish names
Makin' love with the natives
In their Hollywood places
Making up for all the time gone by
Los Angelenos
All come from somewhere
Cuz it's all so easy
To become acquainted
Electric babies
Blue-jeaned and jaded
Such hot sweet schoolgirls
So educated
Tanning out in the beaches
With their Mexican reefers
No one ever has to feel
Like a refugee
Going into garages
For exotic massages
Making up for all the time gone by
Hiding up in the mountains
Laying low in the canyons
Goin' nowhere on the streets
With the Spanish names
Makin' love with the natives
In their Hollywood places
Making up for all the time gone by
Los Angelenos
All come from somewhere
It's so familiar
Their foreign faces
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| She's Got A Way | |
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She's got a way about her
I don't know what it is
But I know that I can't live without her
She's got a way of pleasin'
I don't know what it is
But there doesn't have to be a reason anywhere
She's got a smile that heals me
I don't know why it is
But I have to laugh when she reveals me
She's got a way of talkin'
I don't know why it is
But it lifts me up when we are walkin' anywhere
She comes to me when I'm feelin' down
Inspires me without a sound
She touches me and I get turned around
She's got a way of showin'
How I make her feel
And I found the strength to keep on goin'
She's got a light around her
And everywhere she goes
A million dreams of love surround her everywhere
She's got a smile that heals me
Oh I don't know why it is
But I have to laugh when she reveals me anyway
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| Everybody Loves You Now | |
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Baby all the lights are turned on you
Now you're in the center of the stage
Ev'rything revolves on what you do
Ah, you're in your prime
You've come of age
You can always have your way somehow
'Cause ev'rybody loves you now
You can walk away from your mistakes
You can turn your back on what you do
Just a little smile is all it takes
And you can have your cake and eat it too
Loneliness will get to you somehow
But ev'rybody loves you now
Ah, they all want your white body
And they await your reply
Ah, but between you and me and the Staten Island ferry
So do I
All the people want to know your name
Soon there will be lines outside your door
Feelings do not matter in your game
'Cause nothing's gonna touch you anymore
So your life is only living anyhow
And ev'rybody loves you now
Close your eyes when you don't want to see
And stay at home when you don't want to go
Only speak to those who will agree
Yeah, and close your mind when you don't want to know
You have lost your innocence somehow
But ev'rybody loves you now
Ah, you know that nothin' lasts forever
And it's all been done before
Ah but you ain't got the time
To go to Cold Spring Harbour no more
See how all the people gather around
Hey, isn't it a thrill to see them crawl
Keep your eyes ahead and don't look down
Yeah, and lock yourself inside your sacred wall
This is what you wanted, ain't you proud
'Cause ev'rybody loves you now
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| Say Goodbye To Hollywood | |
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Bobby's drivin' through the city tonight
Through the lights in a hot new rent-a-car
He joins the lovers in his heavy machine
It's a scene down on Sunset Boulevard
Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye to my baby
Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye to my baby
Johnny's takin' care of things for a while
And his style is so right for troubadours
They got him sitting with his back to the door
Now he won't be my fast gun anymore
Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye to my baby
Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye to my baby
Movin' on is a chance that you take
Any time you try to stay together
Whoa
Say a word out of line
And you find that the friends you had
Are gone forever
Forever
So many faces in and out of my life
Some will last
Some will just be now and then
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes
I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again
Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye to my baby
Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye to my baby
Movin' on is a chance that you take
Any time you try to stay together
Whoa
Say a word out of line
And you find that the friends you had
Are gone forever
Forever
So many faces in and out of my life
Some will last
Some will just be now and then
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes
I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again
Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye to my baby
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| Captain Jack | |
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Saturday night 'nd you're still hangin' around
You're tired of livin' in your one horse town
You'd like to find a little hole in the ground
For a while...
So you go to the village in your tie-dye jeans
And you stare at the junkies and the closet queens
It's like some pornographic magazine
And you smile...
But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
La da da, Oh yeah, yeah
Your sister's gone out, she's on a date
And you just sit home and masturbate
The phone is gonna ring soon, but you just can't wait
For that call...
So you stand on the corner in your new English clothes
And you look so polished from your hair down to your toes
But still your finger's gonna pick your nose
After all...
But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
La da da, Oh yeah, yeah
So you decide to take a holiday
You got your tape deck and your brand new Chevrolet
Ah but there's no place to go anyway
And what for...
You've got everything, but nothing's cool
They've just found your father in the swimming pool
And you guess you won't be going back to school
Anymore...
But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
La da da, Oh yeah, yeah
So you play your albums and you smoke your pot
And you meet your girlfriend in the parking lot
Oh, but still you're aching for the things you have not got
What went wrong...
And if you can't understand why your world is so dead
And why you've got to keep in style and feed your head
Well, you're twenty-one and still your mother makes your bed
And that's too long...
But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
Yeah, Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Yeah, Captain Jack will get you by tonight
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| You're My Home | |
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When you look into my eyes
And you see the crazy gypsy in my soul
It always comes as a surprise
When I feel my withered roots begin to grow
Well, I never had a place that I could call my very own
But that's alright, my love, 'cause you're my home
When you touch my weary head
And you tell me ev'rything will be alright
You say, use my body for your bed
And my love will keep you warm throughout the night
Well I'll never be a stranger and I'll never be alone
Wherever we're together, that's my home
Home can be the Pennsylvania Turnpike
Indiana's early morning too
High up in the hills of California
Home is just another word for you
If I travel all my life
And I never get to stop and settle down
Long as I have you by my side
There's a roof above and good walls all around
You're my castle, you're my cabin and my instant pleasure dome
I need you in my house 'cause you're my home
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| The Ballad Of Billy The Kid | |
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From a town known as Wheeling West Virginia
Rode a boy with a six-gun in his hand
And his daring life of crime
Made him a legend in his time
East and West of the Rio Grande
Well he started with a bank in Colorado
In the pocket of hist vest a Colt he hid
And his age and his size
Took the teller by surprise
And the words spread of Billy the Kid
Well he never travelled heavy
Yes, he always rode alone
And he soon put many older guns to shame
Well he never had a sweetheart
And he never had a home
But the cowboys and the ranchers knew his name
Well he robbed his way from Utah to Oklahoma
And the law just couldn't seem to track him down
And it served his legend well
For the folks they love to tell
'Bout when Billy the Kid was in town
One cold day a posse captured Billy
And the judge said string 'im up for what he did
And the cowboys and their kin
Like the sea came pourin' in
To watch the hangin' of Billy the Kid
Well he never travelled heavy
Yes, he always rode alone
And he soon put many older guns to shame
Well he never had a sweetheart
Tho' he finally found a home
Underneath the Boot Hill grave that bears his name
From a town known as Oyster Bay, Long Island
Rode a boy with a six-pack in his hand
And his daring life of crime
Made him a legend in his time
East and West of the Rio Grande
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| I've Loved These Days | |
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Now we take our time, so nonchalant
And spend our nights so bon vivant
We dress our days in silken robes
The money comes
The money goes
We know it's all a passing phase
We light our lamps for atmosphere
And hang out hopes on chandeliers
We're going wrong, we're gaining weight
We're sleeping long and far too late
And so it's time to change our ways
But I've loved these days
Now as we indulge in things refined
We hide our hearts from harder times
A string of pearls, a foreign car
Oh we can only go so far
On caviar and cabernet
We drown our doubts in dry champagne
And soothe our souls with fine cocaine
I don't know why I even care
We get so high and get nowhere
We'll have to change our jaded ways
But I've loved these days
So before we end and then begin
We'll drink a toast to how it's been
A few more hours to be complete
A few more nights on satin sheets
A few more times that I can say
I've loved these days
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