I WENT OUT



I heard a bird up in the trees
Sounded like the doors on the Starship Enterprise.
I was rolling from the village
Some kind of booze in a brown paper bag.
And we sang like we sang at the country fair
Lying in the grass with beetles in our hair
But this was downtown
Downtown Manhattan, 1989
The smell of tar and recycled wine
Hot as hell in the summertime
In the summertime

Then we heard white soul coming out of a bar
Almost as hot as the tar beneath our feet
Down on Bleecker Street.
From some sweet place that’s not there now.
Well just the building anyhow
The people gone like pigeons when a church bell chimes
Scattered over space and time.
Maybe some of them recall
The writing on the bathroom wall
And an echo of that music then
Pick up the pieces ladies and gentlemen
Cos this will never come again
Oh, so free, like you just been born
Raise another glass for them
Raise another glass for then
Singing “Where are you now that we need you Van
Lost in Veedon? Come back to us, man
Play us the old ones as best you can
O’er the cool night air like shalamar.”

And the bass line goes boom boom boom boom
John Lee Hooker walks across the room
Elmore James gonna dust his broom
I haven’t heard that song in years
The jukebox starts to fill with tears
And the bars begin to close

Say bye bye my downtown rose
Say bye bye my downtown rose
Say bye bye my downtown rose
Say bye bye

Johnny and the Moondogs step up to sing
Just like it weren’t anything
Street corner 1954, you ain’t heard this one before
Sister sister, why you treat me mean
Come and dance to the record machine
Spotlight falls from up above
Down upon the ones in love
Johnny and the Moondogs hit their stride
Something they found on an old b-side
Singing come on down to the record machine
Just like you were seventeen
Blake and Mercy cross the room
Boom boom b b boo boo boom
Now we’re swinging on a star
In the cool night air like shalamar


I went out
I went out into the world
And I felt like danger
In the woods
Deep in the woods i met another kind of stranger
Dressed in scales and fur
Half a wolf
Half an angel
I went out far into that world
And I felt alive there
I was calling out to her
Marybeth Mary Anne I am your prisoner
Half a wolf and half an angel
All into the woods
The woods without an ending
The woods without an ending
And I feel alone
But I also feel alive there
I told the woods
I told the woods without an ending
I am now your prisoner
And I feel alive here
Half a wolf and half an angel
And I’m going out again
Feel it coming down again
I can feel the fog coming down
Settle on the world
Keeping it so small
Circle of a man
Holding out his arms
What is coming now
i hear it coming now
Coming through the fog
I can see a light
Just a little light
Is it miles away
is it next to me now
Is it close enough to touch
Is it by my side?
Is it by my side?
Is it by my side?
Is it by my side?
Is it by my side?

I went out
I went out into the world
Half alive and half an angel
And I saw you there
And I knew you knew me
From another world
Half together half forsaken
I went out
I went out
And it felt like danger
I’d become another kind of stranger
And i feel it coming down
Feel it going down
But I went out there
Into the woods that have no ending
They have no ending
And I said what you said to me
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on