Joni Mitchell Album

I have to come and see you-
Maybe once or twice a year-
I think nothing would suit me better
(Right now)
Than some downtown atmosphere ...
In the dance halls and the galleries
Or betting in the OTB
Synchronized-like magic
Good friends you and me

The sun goes down in Jersey
Rises over Little Italy-
We could talk it up 'til the block gets up
Swapping stories
Sitting around in some all night zoo
Watching it run like a movie
Synchronized-like magic
Good friends you and me

No hearts of gold
No nerves of steel
No blame for what we can and cannot feel

But now it's cloak and dagger
Walk on eggshells and analyze
Every particle of difference
Gets like mountains in our eyes
You say, "You're unscrupulous!"
You say, "You're naive!"
Synchronized-like magic
Good friends you and me

No hearts of gold
No nerves of steel
No blame for what we can and cannot feel

Sometimes change comes at you
Like a broadside accident
There is chaos to the order
Random things you can't prevent
There could be trouble around the corner
There could be beauty down the street
Synchronized-like magic
Good friends you and me

No hearts of gold
No nerves of steel
No blame for what we can and cannot feel
No nerves of steel
No hearts of gold
No blame for what we can and can't control

Good friends you and me
Good friends you and me

I can't decide
I don't know
Which way to go?
The options multiply
The choices grow
Which way to go?
What should I buy?
What should I be?
Which way to go?
(Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief)
So much comes at you
Too much for me
Which way to go?

Elusive dreams and vague desires
Fanned to fiery needs by golden boys
In ad empires
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Fiction of the boob tube
Fiction of the papers
Fiction of the image and the image makers
Fiction of the magazines
Fiction of the movies
Fiction of the "Buy me," "Watch me," "Listen to me"

I can't decide
I'm so confused
Which way to go?
I'm being useful here
I'm being used
Which way to go?
Some line gets drawn
What line is this?
Which way to go?
Could be a threshold or a precipice
Which way to go?

Elusive dreams and vague desires
Fanned to fiery needs by sexy boys
In flaming T.V. fires
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Fiction of obedience
Fiction of rebellion
Fiction of the goody-goody and the hellion
Fiction of destroyers
Fiction of preservers
Fiction of peacemakers and shit disturbers

Fiction of the moralist
Fiction of the nihilist
Fiction of the innovator and the stylist
Fiction of the killjoy
Fiction of the charmer
Fiction of the clay feet and the shining armour
Fiction of the declaimers
Fiction of the rebukers
Fiction of the pro and the no nukers
Fiction of the gizmo
Fiction of the data
Fiction of the this is this and that is that - Ahh!

I can't decide
I don't know
Which way to go?
The more you learn
The less you know
Which way to go?
Some follow blind
And never know
Which way to go?
To lead you need some place to go
Which way to go?

Elusive dreams and vague desires
Fanned to fiery needs by deadly deeds
In falling empires
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Truth
Fiction
Fiction of the diplomat
Fiction of the critic
Fiction of the Pollyanna and the cynic
Fiction of the coward
Fiction of the hero
Fiction of the monuments reduced to zero ........

I picked the morning paper off the floor
It was full of other people's little wars
Wouldn't they like their peace
Don't we get bored
And we call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence

No tanks have ever rumbled through these streets
and the drone of planes at night has never frightened me
I keep the hours and the company that I please
And we call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence

Oh and deep in the night
Our appetites find us
Release us and bind us
Deep in the night
While madmen sit up building bombs
And making laws and bars
They'd like to slam free choice behind us

I saw a little lawyer on the tube
He said, "It's so easy now, anyone can sue."
"Let me show you how your petty aggravations can profit you!"
Call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence

Oh and deep in the night
Appetites find us
Release us and blind us
Deep in the night
While madmen sit up building bombs
And making laws and bars
They're gonna slam free choice behind us

Last night I dreamed I saw the planet flicker
Great forests fell like buffalo
Everything got sicker
And to the bitter end
Big business bickered
And they call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice, brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence

Oh these times, these times
Oh these changing times
Change in the heart of all mankind
Oh these troubled times

Front rooms
Back rooms
Slide into tables
Crowd into bathrooms
Joke around
Cheap talk
Deep talk
Talk, talk, talk around the clock
Crawl home
Lie down
Teeth chatter
Heart pounds
I don't feel so good
I don't feel so good
Push a button to escape
Preacher on the tube crying "Lord!"
There's evil in this land

Evangelist:
"Rock and roll music!"
"Cast down these dope-fiends
And there noisy bands!"
"Damn their souls!"

Preacher preaching love like vengeance
Preaching love like hate
Calling for large donations
Promising estates
Rolling lawns and angel bands
Behind the pearly gates
You know, he will have his in this life
But yours will have to wait
He's immaculately tax free

"Mulitiple hundreds of thousands of ..."
Tax free
"Hundreds and millions of dollars"
Tax free
"A hundred billion dollars!
And who is paying the price?
Who, who
"Your children are"

Pissed off
Jacked up
Scream into the mike
Spit into the loving cup
Strut like a rooster
March like a man
God's hired hands and the devil bands
Packing the same grandstands
Different clothes
"Pot in their pockets!"
Different hair
"Sexually active"
Raise a screaming guitar or a bible in the air
Theatre of anguish
Theatre of glory
God's hired hands and the devil bands
Oh come let us adore--ME!
Lord, there's danger in this land
You get witch-hunts and wars
When church and state hold hands

Fuck it!
Tonight I'm going dancing
With the drag queens and the punks
Big beat deliver me
From this sanctimonious skunk
We're no flaming angels
And he's not heaven sent
How can he speak for the Prince of Peace
When he's hawk-right militant
And he's immaculately tax free

"Our nation has lost its guts!"
Save me
"Our nation has lost its strength"
Tax free
"Our nation has whimpered and cried"
Save me
"And petted the Castros"
Tax free
"The Khomeinis' and the Kaddafis'"
Save me
"For so long"
Tax free
"That we don't know how to act like a man"
Save me
"I think that we should turn the United States Marines
loose on that little island south of Florida and
stop that problem!"
"I am preachin' love, I am!"

Nicotine Attack!
Nicotine, Nicotine!
Try Another
Try Another
Try Another
Empty, empty try another

DOG EAT DOG
It's dog eat dog-I'm just waking up
The dove is in the dungeon
And the white-washed hawks pedal hate and call it love
Dog Eat Dog
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
And big wig financiers

DOG EAT DOG
On prime time crime the victim begs
Money is the road to justice
And power walks it on crooked legs
Prime-Time-Crime
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
And big wig financiers

Where the wealth's displayed
Thieves and sycophants parade
And where it's made-
the slaves will be taken
Some are treated well
In these games of buy and sell
And some like poor beast
Are burdened down to breaking

DOG EAT DOG
It's dog eat dog, ain't it Flim Flam man
Dog eat dog, you can lie, cheat, skim, scam
Beat'em any way you can
Dog eat Dog
You'll do well in this land of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
You could get to be
A big wig financier

Land of snap decisions
Land of short attention spans
Nothing is savored
Long enough to really understand
In every culture in decline
The watchful ones among the slaves
Know all that is genuine will be
Scorned and conned and cast away

Dog eat dog
People looking, seeing nothing
Dog eat dog
People listening, hearing nothing
Dog eat dog
People lusting, loving nothing
Dog eat dog
People stroking, touching nothing
Dog eat dog
Knowing nothing
Dog eat dog

Shiny toys-right on time
Shiny toys-right on time
Shiny toys

I'm reading people rags in the checkout lane
Look, here's a hunk-here's a honey
Celebrated people and their claims to fame
Here's a boy and his money
And pictures of the winners in the latest
Ratepoll games

Whatever makes you "Yahoo"
Whatever makes your time feel satisfyin'
Whatever makes you
"Oh I'm so excited"
Whatever makes you feel like you're right on time

Party night
Good bands all over town
(good, good, good)
Mega lights and supersonic sounds
(good, good, good)
Flashy boys and girls that really play
(good, good, good)
Shiny toys, when it's over don't you
hate to have to put your toys away

Shiny toys-"I love my Porsche"
Shiny toys
Shiny toys-"I love my Porsche"
Shiny toys

Simple joys
Walking on the beach at the end of the day
Between the sand and the seagulls
Watching the glorious sun setting on the bay
Here comes a boy and his beagle
Walking with a man in a toupee
And a man with his head shaved

Whatever makes you "Mmmm, mmmm"
Whatever makes your time feel satisfyin'
Whatever makes you "Mmmmm, mmmm"
Whatever makes you feel like you're right on time

Party night
Super bands all over town
(good, good, good)
Super lights and supersonic sounds
(good, good, good)
Flashy boys and girls that really play
(good, good, good)
Shiny toys, when it's over
Don't you hate to have to put your toys away

Shiny toys-right on time
Shiny toys-right on time
Shiny toys-right on time

Hot winds and hunger cries-Ethiopia
Flies in your babies' eyes-Ethiopia
Walking sticks on burning plains
Betrayed by politics
Abandoned by the rains
On and on-the human need
On and on-the human greed profanes
Ethiopia-Ethiopia-Ethiopia

Your top soil flies away-Ethiopia
We pump ours full of poison spray-Ethiopia
Between the brown skies and sprinkling lawns
I hear the whine of chain saws
Hacking rain forests down
On and on-insanities
On and on-Short sighted greed abounds
Ethiopia-Ethiopia-Ethiopia

Little garden planet-oasis in space
Some hearts hurt-they can hardly stand it
Famine phantoms at the garden gates
Ethiopia-Ethiopia-Ethiopia

Every Sunday on T.V.-Ethiopia
You suffer with such dignity-Ethiopia
A T.V. star with a P.R. smile
Calls your baby "it" while strolling
Through your tragic trials
On and on-stupidity
On and on-the basic needs are defiled
Good air-good water-good earth
Ethiopia-Ethiopia-Ethiopia

Little garden planet-oasis in space
Some hearts hurt-they can hardly stand the waste
Ethiopia-Ethiopia-Ethiopia

The street was loud
From an angry crowd and
I thought of you, I thought of you
Dreamer
Land of the free
No hungry bellies
Impossible
Impossible dreamer

In the darkest part of the night
Blue shadows conjure you
And in the brightest height of the daylight
Sometimes I blink 'cause I think I see you
Dreaming like you do

The moon was bright
Like day for night
And I thought of you
I thought of you
Dreamer
No acid rain
Love without pain
Impossible
Impossible Dreamer

In the darkest part of the night
Blue shadows conjure you
And at the brightest height of the daylight
Sometimes I blink 'cause I think I see you
Dreaming like you do

The room was dark
And full of sharks
and I thought of you
I thought of you
Dreamer
Give peace a chance
Don't think just dance
Impossible
Impossible dreamer

In the darkest part of the night
Blue shadows conjure you
And at the brightest height of the daylight
Sometimes I blink 'cause I think I see you
Dreaming like you do

I'm a lucky girl
I found my friend
I've been all around the world
Mission Impossible
Chasing the rainbow's end
Wise guys
Shy guys
And sly lover boys
With big bad bedroom eyes ...
I never loved a man I trusted
As far as I could pitch my shoe
'Til I loved you

You're my lucky star
You're my magician
You make the night prowling disappear
Vanished from the star-war-bars
Empty repetition
I get my heart full here
Playboys
Stray boys
And "Say, hey, hey" boys'll treat you like a toy
I never loved a man I trusted
As far as I could pitch my shoe
'Til I loved you

Cheaters
Woman beaters
And Huck Finn shucksters hopping parking meters
I never loved a man
I trusted
As far as I could pitch my shoe
'til I loved you

I'm a lucky girl
I found my friend
I been all around the world
Mission Impossible
Chasing the rainbow's end
Wise guys
Booby-prize guys
And sly lover boys
With big bad bedroom eyes ...
I never loved a man I trusted
As far as I could throw my shoe
'Til I loved you