Copyright © 1982, 1998, 2010 Jack Hardy Music (BMI)
it is only a simple fact a fact you simply need you can place it where you like in your personal history you can drag it all behind you and hone it till it's sharp you can call it your wall of china or your favorite work of art but i like you far better with a broken heart i will let the secret loose i have watched you long before forging a common truce in that childish teasing war the girl next door whose fun was phony false alarms but you were so very young and our dreams were worlds apart i like you far better with a broken heart carefully peeling apples biting close down to the core collecting all the feelings of closing all the doors that saucy little smile tucked behind a scarf throwing casual glances to upset the apple cart i like you far better with a broken heart the water poured so careful before the pitcher fell you never even winced and i would never tell that you edged it off the table like something to discard then collected all the pieces your renaissance to start still i like you far better with a broken heart
i saw her once again today looking like the wispy witch that she is but it was only a poster the words torn away as though the wind was jealous of what wasn't his i wanted to pick it up off the ground and piece it together with cellophane tape uncrumple the anger the years left around and trace all the lines that had taken her face (chorus:) this is as close as you come as close as you come this is as close as you'll ever be though there was a time by the sea when the waves knew more than we there was rust on the chainlink fence by the door under the bridge where we always hid and we always talked of crossing over though we never did you know friends never did (repeat chorus) all those wicker wine bottle promises the fragmented words that rattle like bones rattle the keys that lead to your room and your starry misery all alone (repeat chorus) spider plants and a wandering jew spanish moss and a cat declawed you can place them all on your window sill where they don't talk back and they don't applaud (repeat chorus)
the princess had a locket and the locket had a key the princess had so many things she would not let them see so many cursed the locket though many held the key many is the open book with print too large to read (chorus:) oh... lady-o where do they come from where do they go and if you have a heart do not let it show oh... lady-o strike while the iron is hot he heard the soldiers say marching in formation to guard the palace gate though he had seen those soldiers fall along the way they line them up and shoot them for the heresies they say (repeat chorus) but he was not a soldier in his torn and ragged coat resembling the jester he came across the moat and all the guards of kingdom come would have let him pass with eyes that looked right through them and songs about their past (repeat chorus) she had always pictured it on a sunny afternoon in some secluded forest with the flowers all in bloom it did not look at all like this god-forsaken room but the thing that's long awaited often comes too soon (repeat chorus)
we got a new owner to the circus and we are in fat-city at last what used to be called family fun is just a way to make money fast we got a brand-new ad man and he's a former military man he's going to make the people like us while we camp out on their land we're gonna close all the schools gonna make life a holiday we don't need so many books just to follow his way we're going to take a lot of pictures gonna bring back black and white we're gonna burn the midnight oil until the price goes out of sight we used to run free buses but now we ride in limousines we're gonna raise the price of admission and let the poor stay home and watch us on tv don't worry about a work force 'cause we don't have to pay them a thing kids always run away to join the circus and they're happy just to dance and sing we gotta brand new girlie show it's gonna put women back in their place it's gonna take us back to yesterday when they were just another pretty face we don't need no corn fields 'cause cotton candy grows on trees if you limit all the choices people aren't quite so hard to please why talk to the clowns when you can talk to the owner of the circus but when the owner's a former clown the town may have need to be nervous we got a new owner to the circus he's gonna make the trains run on time and if there's any trains left he's gonna take us all for a ride
any port in a storm you've heard it before from those whose lives are storm the eye of the storm to keep the heart warm the hurricane shield and the torch all the waves come crashing through the door electric heat upon the veins all the clothes go tumbling to the floor when will i see you again ball and chain you've heard it before that things aren't right at home they're planning to leave they already left they can't live without you or with all they say is old and stale these are not honorable men yet you light the candle the same when will i see you again old and gray you've heard it before when as a child you played roles but all of the men were boring "good friends" and all of their love was cold please don't stay please don't go i am the woman of the road night and day are much the same when your eyes have closed when will i see you again
you always wanted to be a femme fatale with no one as fatal as you the only thing you had to reconcile was your fatalistic attitude for if you want to be a collector of hearts and expect to collect quite a few be careful someone does not steal your part and wind up collecting you (chorus:) it's all such a casual complex of a complex casual thing but i never said anything casual i meant every damn thing step on a crack and break your mother's back and there are so many cracks in the world sooner or later you'll step on a crack but it'll be your heart that'll break little girl and your father who art in heaven who criticizes all that you do he's your sugar daddy with your daily bread but he tells you where to spend it too (repeat chorus) he don't need no girl with snakes in her head who always tries to amuse a spinner of tales or of spider webs who has already caught quite a few you can never keep up with the pace he has set he is years ahead of you you can try if you want to be his femme fatale but he's twice as fatal as you (repeat chorus)
margaret wore white shoes when we first met they're not so white now, since she got them wet and all those noisy people with too much to say shining up their shoes, saving for a rainy day (chorus:) i'm in love is hard to say come again some other day will you say i'm in love the last rose of summer is still a rose bent by the weight of the late-autumn snows margaret took the time to take it in her room counted off the days waiting for that rose to bloom (repeat chorus) so many road signs that point in both ways some follow both roads in their younger days 'til all they're afraid of is coming true frozen in decision wondering what to do (repeat chorus) margaret sang a funny song of a girl who spilled her wine the neck she held too tightly it was vinegar in time and all the little children who laughed at every word did not hear the sadness in the words they heard (repeat chorus)
riding on the high line that cuts against the border thinking that it's 'bout time to get my heart in order it's a long way both ways from sea to shining sea 'specially when you're caught there somewhere in between (chorus:) go back, go on, whichever you choose you are damned if you don't and you're damned if you do hold back, hold on, after all we've been through still there is a soft spot in my heart for you it's a long way from spokane to minot, north dakota 'specially when you're tired and your radio is broken the menus are the same and the coffee tastes like water and the waitress has a ring that someone else has bought her (repeat chorus) the northern lights are out tonight they dance across the sky the lightning from a distant storm i can't outrun tonight and the foxes lying on the road they don't know why they tried running on the high line against the borderline (repeat chorus)
the creek lies swollen before us the bridge is a slippery span the guard with the springfield rifle is barring our freedom plan for days we have followed the wagons with all we own on our backs that long blue winding dragon with fire and death in its track but the pontoon bridge is gone for us these bummers meant freedom the promise made good at last that four-score-seven-year promise why then do they turn us back they have warned us not to follow too close behind their guns that the fighting up front is heavy when it hasn't even begun but the pontoon bridge is gone some say the avenging angel has turned upon his own that all this talk of freedom is just sherman's marching song and some are pleading jesus asking what have they done wrong running up and down the river bank flailing their arms in song but the pontoon bridge is gone and sherman's troops have gone some soldiers disobey orders to help build rafts of logs but they sink as oft as float and time is running out rumors of wheeler's cavalry to ship us back to the farm or shoot us here right where we stand helpless and unarmed but the pontoon bridge is gone and sherman's troops have gone the camp lies now in embers newspapers all been read talk of a change in washington of a dream shot through the head some say ebenezer is a cursed name for a creek some say jefferson davis is a blessed name to speak but the pontoon bridge is gone and sherman's troops have gone and freedom now has gone
to be sure i only wanted to go to the upper west side where i could feel nature and watch the stars shine and i could see that one star of first magnitude somewhere in the heavens somewhere above us but i was never really ready for that ride that roller coaster, rattling, gattling-gun ride on that long serpentine subterranean train for which the big apple is so famous (chorus:) ahhhhh get off your high horse when the hell did you get knighted anyway? he's not gonna take you and bring you back again some day no knight in shining armor's going to ride you as well as this train so i start my slow descent past peripheral players seeking creature comforts huddled 'gainst the cold past the turnstile jumpers handcuffed to the fanfare of those who risk their lives for control down the long corridor with the long empty bottles the wild irish rose and the danny-boy thunderbird past the urinal stalls and the dried vomit smells that make me aware of all my senses (repeat chorus) next the thundering train with its high-pitched scream the brakes screech and the doors swallow me the off-duty prostitute, the codger with his zipper undone awakes from his business-section dream the three-card monte players home from the park the banker who's afraid of sitting alone in the dark the junkie who laughs at their small-stakes game the stupid young girl with her solid gold chain (repeat chorus) my ride is almost over and it doesn't take long to see where i am going and where i'm going wrong better to see the blind leading the blind than to wish upon a star that's far too bright as i climb out of this hell-hole one level to the next i see a young singer who is in love with his text i leave him to fight his battles of recognition he's so in love with himself he's got no competition (repeat chorus)