Music Graffiti / Rickie Lee Jones - RLJ

 Rickie Lee Jones

 RLJ (1979)

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  1. Chuck E's In Love (RLJ)

  2. On Saturday Afternoons In 1963 (RLJ)

  3. Night Train (RLJ)

  4. Young Blood (RLJ)

  5. Easy Money (RLJ)

  6. The Last Chance Texaco (RLJ)

  7. Danny's All-Star Joint (RLJ)

  8. Coolsville (RLJ)

  9.  Weasel And The White Boys Cool (RLJ & Alfred Johnson)

  10. Company (RLJ & Alfred Johnson)

  11. After Hours (RLJ)

Rickie Lee Jones

 

Chuck E's in Love

 

How come he don't come and p.i.p. with me

Down at the meter no more?

How come he turn off the t.v.

And he hang that sign on the door?

We call and we call "How come?" we say

What could make a boy behave this way?

He learn all of the lines, and every time he

don't suffer when he talk

And it's true! It's true! He sure is aquired a

cool and inspired sorta jazz when he walk

Where's his jacket and his old blue jeans?

If this ain't healthy is it some kinda clean?

 

I think Chuck E's in love

 

I don't believe what you're saying to me

This is something I gotta see Is he here?

Look in the poolhall Is he here?

Look in the drugstore Is he here?

No, he don't come here no more

 

I'll tell you what I saw him

He was sittin' us down at the Pantages

And whatever is that he got up his sleeve

I hope it isn't contagious

What's her name? Is that her there?

Christ, I think he's even combed his hair!

Is that her? What's her name?

Oh, it's never going to be same.

But that's not her

I know what's wrong--

Chuck E's in love with the little girl who's singing this song

Chuck E's in love with me

 

On Saturday Afternoons in 1963

 

The most as you'll ever go

Is back where you used to know

If grown-ups could laugh this slow

Where as you watch the hour snow

Years may go by

 

So hold on to your special friend

Here, you'll need something to keep her in :

"Now you stay inside this foolish grin ... "

Though any day your secrets end

Then again

Years may go by

 

You saved your own special friend

'Cuz here you need something to hide her in

And you stay inside that foolish grin

When everyday now secrets end

Oh and then again

Years may go by

 

Night Train

 

Here I'm going

Wlakin' with my baby in my arms

'Cuz I am in the wrong end of the eight ball black

And the devil, see, he's right behind us

And this worker said she's gonna take my little baby

My little angel back

But they won't getcha,

'Cuz I'm right here witcha

On the night train

 

Swing low, Saint Cadillac

Tearin' down the alley

And I'm reachin' so high for ya

Don't let 'em take me back

Broken like valiums and chumps in the rain

That cry and quiver

When a blue horizon is sleeping in the station

With a ticket for a train

Surely mine will deliver me there

 

Here she comes ...

I'm safe here with you

On the night train

Oh mamma, mamma,

Concrete is wheeling by

Down at the end of a lullaby

On the night train

 

Young Blood

 

Take a walk around midnight in the city

Young Blood is hiding there somewhere

If you're looking for something to do

There's always something happening there

 

Like I & Bragger, we borrowed a coupe to day

Here come Pepe and she's got a friend with a chevrolet

But she ain't running

She's walking a little slow

And she ain't crying-- she's just singing a little low

 

They say this city will make you dirty

But you look alright

You feel real pretty when he's holding you tight

City will make you mean

But that's just make-up on your face

Love will wash you clean in the night's disgrace

 

Find a block where your people can find you

Keep a third eye watching behind you

You never know when you're making a memory

They will wish they were here together again, someday

Kids looking for something to get into--

Take a look

Two for the movie show

Three for the back row

Hold on tight!

Remember, you might have looked like cool twelve

But your fuse just felt like dynamite

 

Take a walk around midnight in the city

Young Blood will find you there, somewhere

And if you're looking for something to do

There's always something happening there

 

Easy Money

 

There was a Joe

Leanin' on the back door

A couple Jills with their eyes on a couple bills

Their eyes was statin'

They was waitin'

To get their hands on some easy money

 

They flipped a dime

One said " well, I'll take heads this time"

One stepped up

One stepped back

One loosened her shoulder strap

She couldn't speak,

Her knees got weak

She could almost taste that easy money

 

There was this old black cat

Sittin' in a old black cadillac

The Joe smelled sweet

She curled up at her boyfriend's feet

She said "I got a plan

Listen, Sam, how'd ya like to make some easy money ? "

He say, "yes! oh yes!

Jus' tell me what you want me to do "

She said, "Baby, you can trust me

Baby, but you must be hidin' in my room

At a quarter to two"

Well, the cat told the boy

"Come up to the room and play with my toy"

But the Jill set the bait

And she wasn't gonna sit around and wait

But this guy was wise to all the lies

And he flies out the door

With the easy money

 

Because there ain't no man

Who got the money in his hand

Who got any of that bread

Bein' slow in the head

The easier it looks

The hotter it hooks

There ain't no such thing as easy money

We say, "yes! oh yes!"

Saturday night

There was a terrible, terrible fight

Between two dames who was losin' the same game

It wasn't clear,

But I hear somebody was lookin' for some easy money

 

The Last Chance Texaco

 

A long stretch of headlights

Bends into I-9

Tiptoe into truck stops

And sleepy diesel eyes

Volcanoes rumble in the taxi

And glow in the dark

Camels in the driver's seat

A slow, easy mark

 

But you ran out of gas

Down the road a piece

Then the battery went dead

And now the cable won't reach...

 

It's your last chance

To check under the hood

Last chance

She ain't soundin' too good,

Your last chance

To trust the man with the star

You've found the last chance Texaco

 

Well, he tried to be Standard

He tries to be Mobil

He tried living in a world

And in a shell

There was this block-busted blonde

He loved her - free parts and labor

But she broke down and died

And threw all the rods he gave her

 

But this one ain't fuel-injected

Her plug's disconnected

She gets scared and she stalls

She just needs a man, that's all

 

It's her last chance

Her timing's all wrong

Her last chance

She can't idle this long

Her last chance

Turn her over and go

Pullin' out of the last chance texaco

The last chance

 

Danny's All-star Joint

 

Downstairs at danny's all-star joint

They got a juke box that goes doyt-doyt

The vice is nice, they stay in the back all day

But when the nighttime comes, hey-hey

There's this cat down there that makes a bad kinda soup

I come around struttin' my luck in my shoop coupe

Cecil gives me coffee

And he won't never take my coin

I say, " I got thirty dollars in my pocket!

Whatchoo doin' ? "

 

I holler, " Come on, Cecil, take a dollar!

Come on, Cecil, take a ten!

I've finally geared up into a whole buncha big ones

And you're actin' like I'm down-shiftin' "

 

He knows all the under-riders on the boulevard

They got to barefoot cruise when it's forty-weight hard

They look particularly dead-beat

Permanently pale

Cecil picks up his butcher knife

Waves it at the jail

The kid say, " I ain't got no dough, Joe, I just want some o.j "

I said, " Don't look at me " ( Cuz he was lookin' my way )

Cecil wink upon him some juice and some green

And the kid walks over and puts the quarter in the pinball machine

And he says, " Come on, Cec, gimme a dollar

Come on Cecil gimme five

I'm in a half-way house on a one-way street

And I'm a quarter past left alive "

He can talk about your people in a wonderful way

He can talk about your people 'til your hair turns grey

 

Coolsville

 

I and Braggar, and Junior Lee,

well that's the way we always thought it would be

In the wind-strewn leaves of September, how we met

Decked out like aces, we'd beat anybody's bet

 

Cuz we was Coolsville....cuz we was Coolsville

 

Well you stick it here;

you stick it over there;

but it never fits

 

And now a hungry night you want more and more

and you chip in your little kiss.

Well, I jumped all his jokers,

but he trumped all my tricks

 

And I swear to God I thought this one was smart enough to

stick it into Coolsville.....yeah stick it into Coolsville...

 

So now it's J and B, and me, and that sounds close,

but it ain't the same (well, that's okay)

Hot City don't hurt that much but everything feels the same

Well the real thing come and the real thing go...

Well the real thing is back in town...

Ask me if you wanna know The way to Coolsville....

(Well I hear you wanna go back to Coolsville...

Well come on honey, take you back...to Coolsville)

 

Weasel and the White Boys Cool

 

Sal was working at Nyro's nook in downtown

Selling articles of congress to these people downtown

He was pretty sleezy when I met him

A weasel in a poor boy's wool

 

Sal lives in a black vinyl pen in New Jersey

Buys his meat from a whore next door

Wants it rare but he gets it well

A weasel on a short order floor

 

So, Sal, say good-bye to your mom and your dad

Sal, say good-bye to the barrio

Sal, say good-bye to your buddies and your pals

Angela, Perry and Mario

 

Kid Sinister with the Bus Stop Blues

A quarter could take you home

A dime could make a dream come true

But a weasel ain't got a dime for the phone

( Does a weasel got a dime for the phone ? )

 

So, Sal, say good-bye to your mom and your dad

Sal, say good-bye to the barrio

Sal, say good-bye to your buddies and your pals

Angela, Perry and Mario

 

You dancin' in the welfare lines, Sal

Actin' like some jerk-off fool

When we could lay out eatin' peaches on the beaches

A weasel in a white boy's cool

But we're all in a white boy's school

( Just like a weasel )

 

Company

 

I'll remember you too clearly

But I'll survive another day

!there's no one there

I'll imagine what you'd say

 

I'll see you in another life now, baby

I'll free you in my dreams

But when I reach across the galaxy

I will miss your company

 

Company

I'll be looking for company

Look and listen

Through the years

Someday you may hear me

Still crying for company

 

So now you're going off to live your life

You say we'll meet each other now and then

But we'll never be the same

And I know I'll never have this chance again

No, not like you

 

So, I'll see you in another life now baby,

I'll free you in my dreams

But when I reach across the galaxy

I will miss your company

 

Company

I'll be looking for company

Look and listen

Through the years

Someday you may hear me

Still crying for company

 

After Hours (Twelve Bars Past Goodnight)

 

All the gang has gone home

Standing on the corner

All alone

 

You and me, streetlight

We'll paint the town - grey

Oh, we are so many lamps

Who have lost our way

 

Say goodnight, America

The word still loves a dreamer

 

And all the gang has gone home

And I'm standind on the corner

All alone

 

Lyrics R.L. Jones except 9. and 10. (with A.Johnson) © 1979 Warner Bros Records / Reproduction for commercial use strictly prohibited

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