JAZZ MUSICIAN

a.k.a. THE JAZZ MAN PLAYS HIS HORN
a.k.a. THE JAZZ MUSICIAN PLAYS HIS HORN

Version 2

Well it's Saturday night in New Jersey
And you're feeling kinda wet
Now the summer heat is starting to get you worried
So you look as innocent as you can as you sweat
And you've got a woman on the other side of the law
But it ain't cool to go see her yet
Because her ex-old man's a city cop
Who thinks he's auditioning on Dragnet
So you stand on the corner looking kinda torn
And in the Blue Light Lounge
Where death was born
The jazz musician blows his horn

You pop a letter to your baby in Richmond
'Cause you're feeling pretty down
She's kinda small but at least she's a rich one
She needs you real bad
And sometimes that's all that counts
You had a teenage band and flying hands
And oh, you was pretty big in the South
But you passed out on stage and flew into a rage
And someone tried to revive you
Mouth to mouth
You felt a pain in your chest
As you passed the crown
And in the Blue Light Lounge
The lights went down
And the audience slipped silently out of town

Well now the atheist he burns you for laughing out loud
Cause he can't understand what you're saying
And the word's out, everybody knows, when they threw him in the hole
Oh he went out praying
Oh, and the park is dark but the sidewalk's bright
And alive with the light of the living
Oh and Mama won't you let me walk you home tonight
'Cause it's a big bad city
And this boy's got a lot for the giving
I was stranded in the jungle
First stage witness at a company killing
I'm clutching my high school diploma, shuffling my feet
They promised me sixty bucks a week
And top billing
Well you can live a life of love in New York
Only if you don't love living
And I met this taxi driver who rides me around town
He revels in telling tales of his back seat women

But now out on the corner there's no room to move
'Cause everybody's trying so hard to groove
And in the Blue Light Lounge
The jazz musician plays his blues

Appeared on the semi-legal CD Before The Fame.

These lyrics refer to the version recorded for the Hammond Demos on 03 May 1972 at CBS Studios, New York City. Check also version 1 and version 3.