Lyrics Bayonne Blues - Janis Ian

Bayonne Blues

I was raised in New York City, where the money grows on trees
And the flowers all look gritty and the people look diseased
Come up from New Jersey where I sung the Bayonne Blues
I watched the roller derby on the seven-thirty news
I thought I’d be a folksinger
I went down to Macdougal Street
And Bleeker where the stars got stoned
But the union hall was closed
And the stars out on the road
Making money singing anti-money songs
I went back up to Broadway.
I took the IRT
An old man in a raincoat parked his body next to me
«Do you want to make some money fast?»
And then he grabbed me by the ass
I got derailed on Forty-Second street
I asked somebody for the time
She asked me to her room
She said «I've got a water bed»
I said «I've got the flu
«You look just like a friend of mine
«I never liked too well
«She sold picture postcards
«Of the crack in the Liberty Bell»
I went into the Taco Bell to get myself some lunch
They rushed me to the hospital to have my stomach pumped
Run over on the corner by a wheelchair with no horn
I fell into a manhole and was baptized and re-born
I moved out to Long Island
Bought a color TV
I watch the doctor shows
I’m a soap opera queen
I think I got pneumonia
I’m sure I’ve got TB
It may not be a hell of a life
But it’s life enough for me