I went to Staten Island, Sharon
And I saw the long white dress of love
On a storefront mannequin
Big boat chuggin' back with a belly full of cars
Some girl's going to see that dress
And crave that day like crazy
Little Indian kids on a bridge up in Canada
They can balance and they can climb
Like their fathers before them
They'll walk the girders of the Manhattan skyline
Shine your light on me, Miss Liberty
Because as soon as this ferry boat docks
Fleece me with the gamblers' flocks
I can keep my cool at poker
But I'm a fool when love's at stake
Because I can't conceal emotion
What I'm feeling's always written on my face
There's a gypsy down on Bleecker Street
I went in to see her as a kind of joke
And she lit a candle for my love luck
And eighteen bucks went up in smoke
At a North Dakota junction
And I came out to the Big Apple here
To face the dream's malfunction
Love's a repetitious danger
You'd think I'd be accustomed to
Well, I do accept the changes
At least better than I used to do
A woman I knew just drowned herself
The well was deep and muddy
She was just shaking off futility
My friends were calling up all day yesterday
All emotions and abstractions
It seems we all live so close to that line
And so far from satisfaction
Dora says, "have children"
Mama and Betsy say, "find yourself a charity"
Help the needy and the crippled or put some time into ecology
Well, there's a wide, wide world of noble causes
And lovely landscapes to discover
But all I really wanna do right now
When we were kids in Maidstone, Sharon
I went to every wedding in that little town
To see the tears and the kisses
And the pretty lady in the white lace wedding gown
And walking home on the railroad tracks
Or swinging on the playground swing
Love stimulated my illusions
And when I went skating after Golden Reggie
You know it was white lace I was chasing
Mama's nylons underneath my cowgirl jeans
He showed me first you get the kisses
And then you get the tears
But the ceremony of the bells and lace
Still veils this reckless fool here
Now there are twenty-nine skaters on Wolmann rink
Circling in singles and in pairs
In this vigorous anonymity
A blank face at the window stares
And stares and stares and stares and stares
And the flowers of deep feelings
Sharon, you've got a husband
I've got the apple of temptation
And a diamond snake around my arm
You still have your music
And I've still got my eyes on the land and the sky
You sing for your friends and your family
I'll walk green pastures by and by