Ambulance Blues

Back in the old folky days
The air was magic when we played
The riverboat was rockin'
In the rain
Midnight was the time
For the raid

Oh, Isabela, proud Isabela
They tore you down and
Plowed you under
You're only real
With your make-up on
How could I see you
And stay too long?

All along the Navajo Trail
Burn-outs stub their toes
On garbage pails
Waitresses are cryin'
In the rain
Will their boyfriends
Pass this way again?

Oh, Mother Goose
She's on the skids
Shoe ain't happy
Neither are the kids
She needs someone
That she can scream at
And I'm such a heel
For makin' her feel so bad

I guess I'll call it
Sickness gone
It's hard to say
The meaning of this song
An ambulance can only
Go so fast
It's easy to get buried
In the past
When you try to make
A good thing last

I saw today
In the entertainment section
There's room at the top
For private detection
To Mom and Dad
This just doesn't matter
But it's either that
Or pay off the kidnapper

So all you critics sit alone
You're no better than me
For what you've shown
With your stomach pump and
Your hook and ladder dreams
We could get together
For some scenes

I never knew a man
Could tell so many lies
He had a different story
For every set of eyes
How can he remember
Who he's talkin' to?
'Cause I know it ain't me
And I hope it isn't you

Well, I'm up in T. O
Keepin' jive alive
And out on the corner
It's half past five
But the subways are empty
And so are the cafes

Except for the Farmer's Market
And I still can hear him say:
You're all just pissin'
In the wind
You don't know it but you are

And there ain't nothin'
Like a friend
Who can tell you
You're just pissin'
In the wind

I never knew a man
Could tell so many lies
He had a different story
For every set of eyes
How can he remember
Who he's talking to?
Cause I know it ain't me
And hope it isn't you