1.
A Life Is A Short Time
2. Too Late
3. Slippin' Away
4. Sweet Hattie James
5.
There Will Be Time
6. Pass The Cloak
7. It All Comes Back To Her
8. Jack
and Jane
A LIFE IS A SHORT TIME The world brought
me to this faded street
Where the colors go brown
But all my life is a short
time, somehow Got a degree, it came easy
The sun burnished my black gown
But
all my life is a short time, somehow Got a life, a kid, and a wife
My
fortune seemed to be comin' around
But still my life felt like a short time,
somehow Happiness was bought and sold, baby got old
But she never ceases
to astound
Her life will be such a short time, anyhow The air gets colder
We
get older
The lump builds in your throat
It's seems like there's less and
less to lose
But, above all things, it seems like you can always have hope I
bought a truck, I sold the house
And headed for the Sound
I thought to myself,
it's such a short life, anyhow I've got some questions
And some suggestions
Maybe
if I was pope
I could look straight into the sun
And swear, with all my
soul, that I should have hope So come on, child
Live free and wild
And
never back down
'Cause you find some day it was a short time, anyhow TOO
LATE Heard the sound of a trumpet blast
Said all the good and bad
things pass
You look at me with eyes of glass
That never look astray
I
love you that way
But I cannot relate
Farewell, I think it's too late I
thought I'd never met anyone like you
All of the things that I thought you
knew
But look at the old folks, they too
Know the secrets that you hold
It's
no different, truth be told
From the life you told to wait
I'm sorry, but
I think it's too late It's too late, too late
It's too late, too late
It's
too late, too late Your voice spoke what seemed like hymns
I took a shot
of the bathtub gin
On a night when the stars swim
Through the sea of moonlight
We
were showered in delight
Did you know you were at the gate?
But you turned
away and now it's too late It's too late, too late
It's too late, too
late
It's too late, too late No use tryin' to analyze
Who's been lucky,
who is wise
Because you're only tryin' to disguise
The one thing that you
know
It was so long ago Age sets in like the night
You make decisions,
wrong or right
On what you think just might
Be out there in the dark
And
you're startled by the spark
Are you gonna try to say it's fate
That led
you to this street, but placed you here too late?
Why would God deny us something
so great?
And we'll never quite know
There's no one to blame
Just accept
the fact
That it's too late It's too late, too late
It's too late,
too late
It's too late, too late It's too late
I know it's too late
It's
too late
I know it's too late SLIPPIN' AWAY Livin' on borrowed
time, tryin' to pay the rent
Lettin' all the love you lost sit with the money
you spent
Well the money's been spent and the city's too big for painting
Go
home, Theresa, you know your mother is waiting 13 daughters of the first
wives arrived and all the mistresses fell
To the churchyard floor where they
swore they heard Jehovah's bells
I'm lost in the stain glass blast and the
sweet perfume smell
This could be heaven but how much different is it from
hell? When the one's I love
Seem so far away
I can't help feelin'
That
my best days are slippin' away I rented a van, made a plan and put it into
play
Tried to feed off the struggle of tryin' to get through the day
When
the people you love and want to know seem so far away
I can't help feelin'
that my best days are slippin' away Can't help but estimate how much time
these dreams are using up
Work hard, Oleander, 'cause the tide is splashin'
up
Me and the beach bums are drinkin' from the same cup
I'll keep on fighting
all the one's who call my homeless bluff When the one's I love
Seem so
far away
I can't help feelin'
That my best days are slippin' away I'm
not a gambler, but I can see the thrill in runnin' with that gang
Some people
try to die quick but make sure they go out with a bang
I'm not into the thought
of interpreting some one else's slang
Open your eyes and your mouth so I can
see your fangs Look over the hill there and tell me what do you see?
Is
this the answer to the oldest question you've ever heard, baby?
Those city
lights hurt your eyes, but that don't matter to me
Everything you ever wanted
is in your garden, when you fall to your knees When the one's I love
Seem
so far away
I can't help feelin'
That my best days are slippin' away SWEET
HATTIE JAMES Sweet Hattie James
She was a peach
She was older
and she was bolder
And she was just out of our reach She taught young
Jim
Just how to move and sing
On those Manhattan nights
She could really
swing her thing He was lookin' down back alleyways
She was lookin' for
some place to call home
there is nothin' worse in life than being hopelessly
alone She says Time ain't on our side, but take my hand and match
my stride
Baby, you've got more gusto in you
Come with me tonight on a moonlight
parade drive
The sinner's woes are still a young man's blues She was
playin' bad guitar
In a cheap Montana bar
When he listened and he christianed
Her
as a rising star She was able to teach
And he was able to learn
When
you're so desperate to be something
You better watch it or you'll get burned When
you're lookin' down back alleyways
And she's lookin' for some place to call
home
There is nothin' worse in life than being hopelessly alone She says Time
ain't on our side, but take my hand and match my stride
Baby, you've got more
gusto in you
Come with me tonight on a moonlight parade drive
The sinner's
woes are still a young man's blues THERE WILL BE TIME Gone
without warning on Sunday morning
Gone without vengeance or blame
All just
moments to be rearranged
So lovely and strange Blond and like beauty
she just can't stay
Gone like the last ten years slipped away
Maria, she
cries, "There's nothing here for me here, anyway
And, afterall, it's Independence
Day"
I hear the women say
That tomorrow we will run faster
We will
climb higher There will be time
Time to discover and to define
There
will be time
In a full circle, in a broken line
Oh, there will be time Chart
your course and don't ever stray
Never forget it's meant to be that way
You
can hear voices, in a crescendo they say,
"Never wander away"
I
hear the mermaids say
That tomorrow we will run faster
We will climb higher There
will be time
Time to discover and to define
There will be time
In a full
circle, in a broken line Oh, in a second's time
Oh, in a second's time
Oh,
in a moment's time There will be time
Time to tear it up, time to really
shine
Time to shake the shack, make the moment mine
Time to re-discover,
time to re-define
We could die tonight and that would be just fine
With
your hand in mine
After all, it's only time
After all, what is time?
I
won't wear a watch and we'll get on just fine PASS THE CLOAK Turn
the light out baby
You sad, doe-eyed lady
Watch the lamp light twitch
No
more promises I can pitch but I guess I'm still a beginner
I've got no
millionaire's song
The more you know
The less you fight So pass the
cloak now, baby
While the people pass you by
You are old enough to notice
that you're not too young to die
Oh, it seems so criminal!
They don't know
nothin'
'Bout the pretty one's, baby
You just get knocked down again In
a carnival of heroes
Watch them bark and yearn
We'll make it better
When
we begin to learn but You won't find the millionaire romantic
The easy
choice, where you won't have to chance it
The more you know
The less you
fight So pass the cloak now, baby
While the people pass you by
You
are old enough to notice
That you're not too young to die
Look out your
window, baby
They don't know nothin'
About the pretty ones, baby
You
just get knocked down again So pass the cloak now, baby
While the people
pass you by
You come spinnin' out of nowhere
When they lay you down to die So
shrug it off now, baby
No one prepared you for today
Who would want to live
forever?
When the luster fades away All your heroes were wrong
They
don't know nothin'
About the pretty one's, baby
You just get knocked down
again
IT ALL COMES BACK TO HER
She moves with the breezes
that blow
She believes she's got something unique
This barrio was made for
her she thinks
You can see it in the company she seeks She makes you
feel wanted
She wants to want you, but no
She's only looking for a way
To
love herself more
To love herself more I know when the pendulum swings
And
she decides what really matters
It all comes back
It all comes back
It
all comes back to her She invites lengthy conversations
But the subject
always comes back her way
She'll ask you what's new, what are you doin', where
ya been?
But she really wants to tell you about her new play She'll list
you among
Her closest friends
But with her the need
For attention never
ends
It never ends I know when the pendulum swings
And she decides
what really matters
It all comes back
It all comes back
It all comes
back to her She nearly breaks when the fates turn on her
As if she's
the only one they do this to
She doesn't know why everyone can't see her talent
She'll
be a star someday, if they only knew You've got to look out for yourself
You've
got to look out for yourself I know when the pendulum swings
And she
decides what really matters
It all comes back
It all comes back
It all
comes back
It all comes back
It all comes back to her
JACK
& JANE
Jack works at the drugstore
He's an artist and he wants
to be free
Jane thinks he's an example
Of how the gifted ones abuse their
liberty And if he's so smart
Why can't he find a more respectable job?
She's
got a friend who went to Harvard Law School
And her Jack's just kind of a slob But
she says, "Every time you speak
You're gonna ease the pain all night
And
if you go away
Oh, nothin' would ever be right
I say ooh la-la-la, la-la-la" Jack
never wasted time
Thinkin' past the age of twenty-four
Looks around his
apartment and says
"Man, I thought there would be so much more" Jane
says she'll love Jack no matter what he is
She knows what's inside and she
thinks he'd be great with kids But Jack doesn't want to think of getting
older and more wise
He'd like to live forever, but if he can't then he'd rather
confront all the lies But she says, "Every time you speak
You're
gonna ease the pain all night
And if you go away
Oh, nothin' would ever
be right
I say ooh la-la-la, la-la-la" Because Jane ran away with
another guy
Jack never expected it and she didn't explain why
She only said,
"Jack, I didn't ask for this
But he made me feel good and I liked how
he kissed"
Jane's in another man's arms, it's hell this way
He thinks
she forgot him by now
But it could be no other way Jack strolled into
work
You know he was thirty minutes late
The door had been unlocked
And
his boss he had opened up the gate He said, "Why does a young man like
you test fate?
And why in the world would you think that you're great?
You
throw away all the things that you must contemplate
Then you realize those
are the only things that had any weight" Jack will get older and things
will change
And his love for Jane will seem quite strange
And maybe at night
she'll appear in the rain
But she'll never be able to ease his pain She
says, "Every time you speak
You're voice will ease the pain all night
But
I had to go away
Oh, and nothin' will ever be right
I say ooh la-la-la,
la-la-la"
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