The sun is up and the shades are all pulled down
I'm more paranoid with every little sound
Like the leaf blower blowing the leaves around
And a siren wailing on the other side of town

Oh the TVs on and the colors really hurt my head
If I could think straight I'd wish I was dead
Or curled up naked in my lover's bed
Instead I'm hanging over Hell suspended by a single thread

chorus:

He wasn't famous but I sure did love him
I've got his picture in a little frame
He lost his life to a big disease before it even had a name
But there's so many more and I've lost count
The hows and whys aren't important now
All that matters is they came around
And brightened up our lives

She was twenty one with her life ahead
You don't need to know her name

I'm no longer counting I'm not keeping score
I could say my list of lovers doesn't matter anymore
But some are always in my heart
And some I'm not so sure
Either way they all left their mark
And for some I found a cure

chorus:
From one you learn something
Another you learn, nothing
And there's one who might teach you everything
But before I learned to listen
And if indeed someone said it

It's just like Noah's ark
There's two of every kind
Pretty girls and boys in drag
Walking a fine thin line
Shaking hands and bussing cheeks
Llicking their lips like they could eat
Me alive in a couple of weeks
Yeah, just like Noah's ark

Italiano promotion men
Chomping a big cigar
Slapping backs and making cracks
About the fags in the bar
Radio boss dipping his nose in a little white packet

Hey how about this
A little conversation tonight
Thinking aloud how we struggled to find
Our place in the dizzy heights

Don't often do this
We never really get the chance
Nearly froze to death on Oxford Street
Now we're sitting in the South of France

Talking through the evening
It's good to shoot the breeze
Just you and me on a balcony
And cicadas singing in the trees

chorus:

We heard Richard Nixon say, welcome to the USA
The common sense I sometimes lack
Has opened up a seismic crack
We've fallen in and I can't pull back
And I guess we'll have to stay

In open arms we put our trust they put us on a big red bus
Twin spirits soaking up a dream
Fuel to feed the press machine
After years that were long and lean
We're finally on our way

chorus:

I've seen the bridge and the bridge is long
And they built it high and they built it strong
Strong enough to hold the weight of time
Long enough to leave some of us behind

chorus:
And every one of us has to face that day
Do you cross the bridge or do you fade away
And every one of us that ever came to play
Has to cross the bridge or fade away

I've been out here on this road some
Can't help feeling I've been showing my friends around
I've seen it growing from next to nothing
Into a giant eating up your town

Called up the tealeaves and the tarots
Asked the gypsy what she sees in the palm of our hands
She saw a mountain and a wild deer running
A crazy kid becoming a better man

But we stuck around for the fireworks

Nostradamus said I predict
That the world will end at half past six
What he didn't say was exactly when
Was he listening to the radio?
Was he listening to the government?

Well he got us spooked anyway
We'd been running hot up until today
But a wind of change blew across our sales
We were coasting on a winning streak
We were kings until the power failed

chorus:
We've been living in a tinderbox

I remember it like it was yesterday
Snow in the park and skaters on the ice
Long black cars standing side-by-side
Loading up the boys at night

Turned up our collars to the chill of the wind
Caught an innocent smile from a taxi at the lights
Not something you'd see on a New York street
It's such an uncommon sight

chorus:
But I wouldn't have it any other way
This city's got a thing about it