A Song to Pass the Time

There is a middle-aged woman, she's dragging her feet

She carries baskets of clothes to a laundromat

While the Mexican children kick rocks into the street

And they laugh in a language I don't understand

But I love them, why do I love them?

So the neighborhood's dimming as I smoke on the porch

Watch the people as they pass enclosed inside their cars

And on their faces just anger or disappointment

I start wishing there was something I could offer them

Consolation, could I offer them?

Never sad in their suburbs robots, water the lawn

And everything they touch gets dusted spotless

So they start to believe that they've not touched anything at all

And the cars in the driveway only multiply

Well they are lost in their houses

And heard them sing in the shower

Making speeches to their sister on the telephone

Saying, "You come home, come here

Don't stay so far away from me

This weather has me wanting love more tangible

Something I can hold because it's getting cold"

I said, "Hold up our fists to the flame in the sky

To block out the light that's reaching for our eyes

I have locked my actions in the grooves of routine

So I may never be free of this apathy

But I wait for a letter that's coming to me

She sends me pictures of the ocean in an envelope

So there still is hope, yes I can be healed

There is someone looking for what I concealed

In my secret drawer, in my pockets deep

You will find the reasons that I can't sleep

And you will still want me

But you still want me

Will you still want me?

Well, I say, "Come for the week, you can sleep in my bed"

And pass through my life like a dream through my head

It will, it will be easy, I'll make it easy

All I have for the moment is a song to pass the time

A melody to keep me from worrying

Some simple progression to keep my fingers busy

And words that are sure to come back to me and they'll be laughing

And they'll be laughing

My mediocrity

My mediocrity

They'll be laughing

They'll be laughing

They'll be laughing