Stumbling To Bethlehem

I was doing time in Salvation Park
up on the high rope me your ace of hearts
just when I thought I was so special
I thought I had it all
you take a wrong step
before you fall and you�re

Stumbling to Bethlehem
in this absence of light
stumbling to Bethlehem
don�t worry darling
yeah don�t think twice

Now there�s this man on the corner
in a long black sweater saying
�sinners they will burn forever�
well I must be guilty of something
some price I forgot to pay
I must have done somebody wrong
somewhere along the way
that keeps me

Stumbling to Bethlehem
in this absence of light
stumbling to Bethlehem
don�t worry darling
yeah don�t think twice

now you can count up all
your blessings
you can count up every curse
but you never really know
which is better and which is worse
so you try to do right
but it gets so rough
there�s always someone
to remind you
that you�re just not good enough
and you�re

Stumbling to Bethlehem
in this absence of light
stumbling to Bethlehem
don�t worry darling
yeah don�t think twice


Each Other''s Medicine

So all that loneliness for a moment is through
and now it�s going to take time
to find some faith for you
you�ve got a history of crash landings
coming down on nothing but a prayer
and finding no one there to break the fall
so you got all twisted up inside
got a new hairdo and a big disguise
till no one could recognize you at all

Well that�s all right� that�s o.k.
I�m going to love you� any which way
that�s o.k. ... that�s all right
we�ll be each other�s medicine tonight

Well the path of resistance for a moment
now has cleared
and you want to open up but you�re
locked down shut with fear
because you know the lonely corner
where the blind man begs for change
you�ve carried that cup and cane before
and you never get what you think you deserve
so you settle for token kindness
and sympathetic words
anything to ease the pain

Well that�s all right� that�s o.k.
I�m going to have you any which way
that�s o.k. ... that�s all right
we�ll be each other�s medicine tonight

Well all the stopped clocks are ticking
it�s time I do believe
when you�ve got nothing left to give
and you�re too paralysed to receive
when you�re unfamiliar to yourself
and a stranger to everybody else
when you�re too lost and too gone to see

Well that�s all right� that�s o.k.
I�ll recognize you any which way
that�s o.k. ... that�s all right
we�ll be each other�s medicine tonight



Romeo

Standing at your doorstep darlin�
what can I do
you�re a part of me forever
like a troublesome tattoo
I lay awake at night
curse your name into the dark
while the memory of you rings
like a church bell through my heart
then a cold rain starts to fall

Oh Romeo
remember how we�d listen to the radio
when the girls sang
�baby baby you know it�s true
ain�t no one in this world for me but you�

Now I�m a believer darlin�
I believe in heaven above
and when I look in your eyes
I believe I still see love
well maybe I will never know
just why you walked away
did you think I wasn�t good enough
or were you just afraid
of the cold rain that�s fallen
all around us now

Oh Romeo�

Now I�m living here in Chelsea
In somebody else�s arms
got a ring around my finger
diamond snake around my arm
don�t know if he knows
about you darlin�
I don�t even care
sometimes he pretend to reach for me
and I pretend I�m there
while that cold rain
has fallen all around us now
listen

Oh Romeo
remember how we�d listen to the radio
when the girls sang
�baby baby you know it�s true
ain�t no one in this world for me but you�
well there is no one


State Of Grace

Check your time plan station master
and bless the 3:45
she�s rolling fast and free
and don�t she look just like me
spitting off smoke
and all empty inside
I left my baby down on a city street
our love followed the course of the sun
it rose above the city skyline
and sunk behind the turnpike oil drums� well

Come on now mister conductor
come on and seal my fate
I was raised to find my way
now I�m going to find my state of grace

So I went walking down the edges of the city
to the iron lady and the holy land
with no English my family came
and money left a stain on their foreign hands
I don�t know how some people do it
they just walk away and they
don�t look back�
under a river in a cold mud tunnel
my grandfather�s ghost''s still
slamming the jack� well

Come on now mister conductor
come on and seal my fate
I was raised to find my way
now I�m going to find my state of grace

Last night I had a dream of forgiveness
we were walking on some sacred ground
and a light fell from heaven with a promise
That all lost things are someday found� well.

Come on now mister conductor
come on and seal my fate
I was raised to find my way
now I�m going to find my state of grace
I�m going to find my state of grace

Chelsea Avenue

Daniel�s by the jonny pump
he�s drunk on cheap wine
he�s got a monkey wrench in his hand
saying he�ll be prepared next time
everything seemed so right
who would have thought to make amends
with a love so pure
who would have thought we�d burn in the end
from the tip of the fire to the heart of the blaze
when the rain came
there was nothing left to save
sifting thru the ashes for a clue
nothing but a memory of me and you
baby, down on Chelsea Avenue

Light a candle light a light
I�m going to take you down tonight
so let the bells ring and the whistles blow
across the soft country that we used to know
where every path you take is marked
and every story in your heart
all comes running back to you
baby, down on Chelsea Avenue

Didn�t we love to love to love
didn�t we love to love to love
didn�t we love to love now
didn�t we
didn�t we walk so tall
didn�t we walk so free?
didn�t have to search for the strength
to be just what we wanted to be
after the temptations
it was just burning rain on wood
the more we learned the less we really understood
now I don�t know who makes these final decisions
who will be rewarded, punished or just forgiven
but I forgave you darling because I knew
it�s what you would have wanted me to do
baby, down on Chelsea Avenue




Young In The City

I ferried my dreams across the water
underneath a faceless moon
I woke to find myself uncovered
in this dark and dusty room
take me� up the wooden stairs
where the windows are open wide
there we can watch the city skyline
tremble in the heat waves rolling by
and don�t the world look pretty
when you�re young in the city

So there I was
Ophelia climbing
through these tangled threads of light
I was caught
open and bleeding
but I was willing to stay the night
take me down� to where the buildings
stand empty at our feet
where the� dirty Hudson River
and the sweet blue oceans meet
and don�t the world look pretty
when you�re young in the city

Don�t you sometimes wonder
why it all goes by so fast
I held you in my fingers
now I hold you in my past�
once I watched you� walk on water
now I watch you walk across the room
I always thought we�d have forever
now these forevers go by too soon
take me down� to the streets below
where the moon and traffic lights
guide us� while we go dreaming
thru another sleepless night
and don�t the world look pretty
when you�re young in the city

patti
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