Used to be my theme song. Maybe it still is…
“And he’ll go to the grave as an angry old man!”
Ah, well. At least I can play it in Rock Band now.
Ag
Got a call from an old friend
We used to be real close
Said he couldn’t go on the American way
Closed the shop, sold the house
Bought a ticket to the West Coast
Now he gives them a stand-up routine in L.A.
I don’t need you to worry for me cause I’m alright
I don’t want you to tell me it’s time to come home
I don’t care what you say anymore, this is my life
Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone
I never said you had to offer me a second chance
(I never said you had to)
I never said I was a victim of circumstance
(I never said)
I still belong, don’t get me wrong
You can speak your mind
But not on my time
They will tell you, you can’t sleep alone in a strange place
Then they’ll tell you, you can’t sleep with somebody else
Ah, but sooner or later you sleep in your own space
Either way it’s okay to wake up with yourself
I don’t need you to worry for me cause I’m alright
I don’t want you to tell me it’s time to come home
I don’t care what you say anymore, this is my life
Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone
I never said you had to offer me a second chance
(I never said you had to)
I never said I was a victim of circumstance
(Of cirumstance)
I still belong, don’t get me wrong
You can speak your mind
But not on my time
I don’t care what you say anymore, this is my life
Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone
(Keep it to yourself, it’s my life.)
(Keep it to yourself, it’s my life.)
(Keep it to yourself, it’s my life.)
(Keep it to yourself, it’s my life.)
Turn on all the Christmas lights
Cause baby’s coming home tonight
I can hear her footsteps in the street
Turn the choral music higher
Pile more wood upon the fire
That should make the atmosphere complete
I’ve had to wait forever
But better late than never
She’s just in time for me
She’s right on time
She’s right where she should be
She’s right on time
I’m a man with so much tension
Far too many sins to mention
She don’t have to take it anymore
But since she said she’s coming home
I’ve torn out all my telephones
Soon she will be walking through that door
I may be going nowhere
But I don’t mind if she’s there
She’s just in time for me
She’s right on time
She’s right where she should be
She’s right on time
Left to my own device
I can always make believe
That there’s nothing wrong
Still I will choose to live
In the complicated world
That we shared for so long
Good or bad, right or wrong
And it occurred to me
While I set up my Christmas tree
She never missed a cue or lost a beat
Everytime I lost the meter
There she was when I would need her
Greeting me with footsteps in the street
I guess I should have known it
She’d find the perfect moment
She’s just in time for me
She’s right on time
She’s right where she should be
She’s right on time
Turn the choral music higher
Pile more wood upon the fire
That will make the atmosphere complete
I’ve had to wait forever
But better late than never
She’s just in time for me
She’s right on time
She’s right where she should be
She’s right on time
She’s right on time
She’s right on time
Vienna - Billy Joel
Slow down you crazy child
You’re so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you’re so smart tell me why are you still so afraid?
Where’s the fire, what’s the hurry about?
You better cool it off before you burn it out
You got so much to do and only so many hours in a dayArynn.
Vienna-Automatic Reblog. Every time.
Soothes me.
Me: Um, Ducky?
Ducky: Yes, Daddy?
Me: That’s my foot.
Ducky: Pay attention to me.
Me: I’m playing Rock Band.
Ducky: Of this I am painfully aware. Pay attention to me.
Me: I just downloaded Billy Joel songs. I know them all. I can sing them all.
Ducky: Daddy?
Me: Yes?
Ducky: Your singing make my ears sad.
Me: Want me to drum?
Ducky: No. I don’t really care for the game at all. Very noisy. You should pet me instead.
Me: Later, Ducky.
Ducky: …
Me: …
Ducky: Why for you ain’t got no pants on?
Me: My home. I don’t like wearing pants.
Ducky: Kay. Kinda weird.
Me: We live alone, Duck. I’ve lost everything. Let me have Rock Band in my underwear, ok?
Ducky: Ok.
Me: …
Ducky: Just saying it’s weird.
Ag
A picture postcard
A folded stub
A program of the play
File away your photographs
Of your holiday
And your mementos
Will turn to dust
But that’s the price you pay
For every year’s a souvenir
That slowly fades away
Every year’s a souvenir
That slowly fades away
Saturday night and you’re still hangin’ around
Tired of living in your one horse town
you’d like to find a little hole in the ground,
for awhile..
So you go to the village in your tie dyed jeans
And you stare at the junkies and the closet queens
It’s like some pornographic magazine
And you smile
(chorus)
Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push, and you’ll be smilin’
Oh yeah,…
Your sister’s gone out, she’s on a date
You just sit at home and masturbate
Your phone is gonna ring soon, but you just can’t wait
For that call
So you stand on the corner in your New English clothes
and you look so polished from your hair down to your toes
Ah but still your fingers gonna pick your nose
After all,..
(chorus)
So you decide to take a holiday
You got your tape deck and your brand new Chevrolet
Ah, there ain’t no place to go anyway
What for?
So you got everything, ah, but nothing’s cool
They just found your father in the swimming pool
And you guess you won’t be going back to school
Anymore.
(chorus)
So you play your albums, and you smoke your pot
and you meet your girlfriend in the parking lot
Oh but still you’re aching for the things you haven’t got
What went wrong?
And if you can’t understand why your world is so dead,
why you’ve got to keep in style and feed your head
Well you’re 21 and still your mother makes your bed,
And that’s too long
(chorus)
(chorus)
That if a cover band plays Billy Joel’s “Captain Jack” at a local theme park, the singer will change the word “masturbate” to “contemplate.”
But if you download “Captain Jack” for Rock Band, masturbate stays in there.
And at that theme park, “Smoke your pot” becomes “Smoke a lot” while in Rock Band the lyric remains audible but the word “pot” is deleted from the karaoke words.
So what I have to ask is this…
Can anyone figure out what point I hoped to make with all this?
So they demolished the Spectrum in Philadelphia this week. And in true Philly fashion, it was the most unspectacular demolition you’ve ever seen! I love “When The Walls Come Tumblin’ Down” blaring as the wrecking ball slooooooooooowly taps at the edifice and tiny little chips tumble
But the Spectrum was a part of my family’s history so I’ll miss her. I saw my first professional basketball game there when I was in the 4th grade, saw Billy Joel perform from the 12th row (after camping out all night), saw Rush (and found out what pot smells like) and seeing it and old Veterans Stadium were always my signs as a kid that we we were back in Philly.
This week my dad reminded me that he and my mom had one of their first dates at the Spectrum. They saw Dave Brubeck and some other jazz artists. We always were a hip family.
So good-bye, Spectrum. Thanks for the memories!
Ag
