| Disc 1 | ||||||
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| 1. |
| 4:40 | 
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| 2. |
| 3:00 | 
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How pleasant to know Mr. Lear
How pleasant to know at the end of the day he's near With a portfolio that daily features diverse creatures You open the book and it's true The world is a lot more mysterious than we knew Round every corner unusual things are prone to wander When I was a young man I was oft-times at the zoo To trace the visages and forms of parrots and cockatoos It's over the hill now he goes Pausing a while with the Pobble who has no toes For your perusal, Victorian days are so unsual Oh my aged Uncle Arly, sitting on a heap of barley On his nosehis faithful cricket In his hat a railway ticket But his shoes were far too tight How pleasant to know Mr. Lear In Egypt, the first day of spring You're painting a watercolor,hoping the light will bring Guided by pens and inks, the pyramids and palms and sphinx When I was an old man, I had a cat named Foss Now he's gone I wander on With this unbearable sense of loss How pleasant to know Mr. Lear How pleasant to know at the end of the day he's near And if you should find him His world is dancing close behind him |
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| 3. |
| 4:11 |
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I sent my majordomo to your amanuensis
To ascertain your feelings, and strip away pretenses And then a few days later, you sent back your vizier And though he spoke quite courtesously His meaning wasn't clear Not to my majordomo Not to my majordomo So I sent my acolyte to further our relations And he engaged your ministers in lengthy conversations One or two were willingto discuss the matter frankly We then received your advocate Who told me that you thanked me Also my majordomo Also my majordomo I therefore told my counselor to offer my best wishes And he was greeted cordially with smiles and festive dishes I further was encouraged by a note in your handwriting Delivered by your confidant, it seemed you were inviting My plenipotentiary with great felicitations To join your chief of protocol in swift negotiations But something must have happened A secret door had closed then The word from my ambassador was you were indisposed And could not meet my majordomo There's nothing I can do now I sent my majordomo I sent my majordomo |
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| 4. |
| 4:01 |
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I'm hiding in a rain barrel inside these consul walls
This shaft of light is so narrow I can't see much at all Outside I hear the feet running And voices all around Footsoldiers with their guns coming I can't make a sound But if Mr. Williams keeps his word My life could still be saved I might live to see a time When all these roads are paved But if they break inside these walls You won't see me again But if Mr. Williams keeps his word Somewhere, my story will be heard I'm living in a strange country, it's so hard to find It's not on any map, you carry it in your heart and mind Outside I hear the ground shaking up from underneath It's only when the empire's breaking That you see their teeth But if Mr. Williams keeps his word My life could still be saved I might live to see a time When all these roads are paved But if they break inside these walls You won't see me again But if Mr. Williams keeps his word Somewhere, my story will be heard I'm hiding in a rain barrel with one small patch of sky Don't think I'm going to see tomorrow Going to bid this world good-bye. |
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| 5. |
| 6:57 |
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On the platform of an old railway station I enter a dream
And a couple are saying good-bye through the noise and the steam But it's just "Brief Encounter" my mind is trying to rerun And I wait for the poignant finale but the dream has moved on And the train has turned into a ship that is sailing away And the platform is a beach full of shells under silvery grey And the girl on the beach is an English Prime Minister's daughter And she watches the ship disappear at the edge of the water And it feels like the pain in her heart will be never-ending And everyone feels this way in the beginning And she watches the ship disappear for the length of a sigh And the maker of rhymes onthe deck who is going to die In the corner of some foreign field that will make him so famous As a light temporarily shines to illumine his pages Then the scene has changed once again; now it's moonlight on wire And the night is disturbed by a sudden volcano of fire And a skull in a trench gazes up open-mouthed at the moon And the poets are now Wilfred own and Siegfried Sassoon And nobody talks anymore about losing and winning And everyone feels that way in the beginning And I'm up in the air looking down at a girl on a bed She's lying asleep on her side with a boook at her head And it's someone who left long ago Was it something I said? And I hope that she's reading "King Lear", but it's "Twelfth Night" instead. Now the girl and the beach and the train and the ship are all gone And the calendar up on the wall says it's ninety years on I go out into the yard where the newspaper waits There's a man on the cover we all know, defying the fates And he seems very sure ashe offers up his opinion Well everyone feels like this in the beginning When you feel that the pain in your heart will be unending Everyone feels this way in the beginning If you feel that the pain in your heart will be never-ending Well everyone feels that way in the beginning |
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| 6. |
| 3:07 |
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When I get even more old than I am now
I'll have a house overlooking the water I'll read all the books that I never got 'round to And pile my suitcases up in the corner The lights of the city they blink off and on again Names in my memory are there, then they're gone again Albums of photographs spread on the floor again I'll spend my evenings with Katherine of Oregon I'll fill my garage up with things I've no use for Obsolete knick-knacks that there's no excuse for I'll turn my back on the world's grand illusions Take my delights in the simplest amusements The lights of the city they blink off and on again Names in my memory are there, then they're gone again Albums of photographs spread on the floor again I'll spend my evenings with Katherine of Oregon I'll wear my clothes with their colors all clashing They'll be so old that they'll come back in fashion I'll sit on the beach with my paper wrapped luncheon I'll enjoy being the ancient curmudgeon The lights of the city they blink off and on again Names in my memory are there then they're gone again I'll have a jukebox and play Lonnie Donegan And I'll spend my evenings with Katherine of Oregon |
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| 7. |
| 4:26 |
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This is the Mona Lisa talking
Out on the street where love goes walking Into the shadows that can't hide you Here is a voice that speaks inside you Go home, pretty baby, go on home, pretty baby You will go home to the one who is waiting for you Anything that you want, anything that you do You will go home to the one who is waiting alone for you This is the Mona Lisa talking Out of a patch of oil and water Over the street lamps and the river Out of a smile that lasts forever Go home, pretty baby, go on home, pretty baby You will go home to the one who is waiting for you Anything that you want, anything that you do You will go home to the one who is waiting alone for you O I know you think you're part of a tragic song You can show reasons it's over, but I know you're wrong These Renaissance girls know what they're saying There are whispers at night in the halls of paintings You think you're the first one to come untethered But we've been watching you forever Go home, pretty baby, go on home, pretty baby You will go home to the one who is waiting for you Anything that you want, anything that you do You will go home to the one who is waiting alone for you This is the Mona Lisa talking This is the Mona Lisa talking |
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| 8. |
| 4:11 |
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Old jazz guys being interviewed
Thirty years beyond their prime With memories of road shows From the Golden Age of Swingtime The piano player strikes a chord Leans forward on his stool And through they've all seen better days They've got that air of faded cool It's an entree of another world One of tailcoats and victrolas And one day they'll make TV shows On aging rock-and-rollers On aging rock-and-rollers Then came the kid with the red Colorama And the Watkins copycat echo chamber and the toothy grin With one hand glued to the tremolo arm While the singer moves around like an Elvis clone They really packed them in And every song was short and sweet, and every beat was fast And every paper in the land said rock-and-roll won't last You know it just won't last, it's such a rapid burn And it's a hard, hard, hard lesson to learn It's a hard, hard, hard lesson to learn Well what are you going to do when it's all over? What are you going to do right now? What are you going to to when it's all over? Will you get along somehow? I just don't know Feeling like I do right now Ask me tomorrow Red guitar, red guitar You know I really miss that red guitar Red guitar, red guitar You know I reallly miss that red guitar And you can write this on my tombstone That'll be my fate I'm a gradute of rock-and-roll Class of '58 '58, '58, I'm a graduate of the class of '58 Red guitar, '58, I'm a graduate of the class of '58 And there's no use analyzing these anthems that were sung Rock-and-roll's not good or bad It's just the sound of being young And it's a long long way from pompadours And doo-wop and payola And one day they'll make TV shows on aging rock-and-rollers One day they'llmakeTV shows on aging rock-and-rollers. |
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| 9. |
| 2:52 |
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| 10. |
| 2:18 |
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Now here's a book full of photographs
That my ancestors made some generations ago They're wearing the lastest clothes in a nautical way The Suez Canal close behind is frozen in time The deck crews star out of a mime And they seem to be considering me Here on my Egyptian couch O the life on Edwardian steamships Is measured and slow, while down below There are fires that shudder and clang and thunder And sweat-caked in smoke, and cauldrons to stoke To send the ship on her way Tasting the salt and the spray And a century later I scan the equator From my Egyptian couch And the news every day brings Contains the strangest of things But with confident smilesw my forebears decline To gaze into the wings So they look from the photographs And they're curious now, wondering how we turned out Let's say like the Chinese adage We're living our lives in interesting times |
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| 11. |
| 3:49 |
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Gina in the King's Road, 1968
Blonde hair and eyeshadow, I hyperventilate Purple leather mini, legs up to there Don't you cast aspersions on my naugahyde affair And she can make you believe You're feeling almost sincere And every day's New Years Eve She's giggling in your ear And yet she's so hard to reach Although she's so close at hand I'm like a wave on her beach Sinking in the sand Everyone went out with her, everyone knew why No one ever stayed around, no one ever tried Now Gina drowns her sorrows, drinks away the night She's wrapped around some stranger, hanging on for life repeat chorus Now Gina in the King's Road, in a raincoat shimmering white Hands thrust in her pockets ike Julie Christie might Looks up into othe distance, puckers up her lips I don't stop to talk to her,we're just passing ships repeat chorus |
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| 12. |
| 2:20 |
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When your little world has fallen apart
You'll be living on Beacon Street In a flat above a laundry It's warm and forgiving on Beacon Street Hundreds of paperback novels adorning your shelves Piles of CDs that are eager to please Still asserting themselves There's something in the morning light That is muted and soft down on Beacon Street Then a bar or two of classical music Will waft through the air Newspaper adverts will usher the future your way Indian teas and then take-out Chinese At the end of the day Shadows on furniture cast by the light of the moon You've got a fridge full of food You won't need to go anywhere soon When it's time to start again They will welcome you in down on Beacon Street Everybody needs a moment or two Now and then on their own |
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| 13. |
| 2:54 |
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This is the day you disappeared
Your hand was steady and I know that your mind was clear You left a note up on the shelf Saying "I would rather be anyone but myself" You took a simple ride across the Great Divide You left the television on in your room Your friends were sad although they said "I told you so" You never really did fit into your skin The small annoying things you do All seemed so cute and entertaining when they were new This kind of honeymoon can't last I think you knew you wore your welcome out much too fast I was surprised to see you played the lottery Your winning ticket you won't need anymore You were in such a rush you never stopped to check Your jacket pocket on your way out the door This is your anniversary I'll light a candle in the window so you might see This is the day you had to go Good-bye then, this concludes your portion of the show |
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