Paul Simon Album

From early in November to the last week of December
I got money matters weighing me down
Oh the music may be merry, but it's only temporary
I know Santa Claus is coming to town
In the days I work my day job, in the nights I work my night
But it all comes down to working man's pay
Getting ready, I'm getting ready, ready for Christmas Day

[Reverend Gates:]
Getting ready for Christmas Day
And let me tell you, namely, the undertaker, he's getting ready for your body
Not only that, the jailer he's getting ready for you
Christmas day. Hmm? And not only the jailer, but the lawyer, the police force
Now getting ready for Christmas day, and I want you to bear it in mind

I got a nephew in Iraq it's his third time back
But it's ending up the way it began
With the luck of a beginner he'll be eating turkey dinner
On some mountain top in Pakistan
Getting ready, oh we're getting ready
For the power and the glory and the story of the
Christmas day

[Reverend Gates:]
Getting ready, for Christmas day.
Done made it up in your mind that I'm going, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago.
I'm going, on a trip, getting ready, for Christmas day.
But when Christmas come, nobody knows where you'll be.
You might ask me.
I may be layin' in some lonesome grave, getting ready, for Christmas day

Getting ready oh we're getting ready
For the power and the glory and the story of the
Christmas day
Yes we're getting ready

[Reverend Gates:]
Getting ready, ready for your prayers,
"I'm going and see my relatives in a distant land."

Getting ready, getting ready for Christmas day
If I could tell my Mom and Dad that the things we never had
Never mattered we were always okay
Getting ready, oh ready for Christmas day
Getting ready oh we're getting ready
For the power and the glory and the story of the
Christmas day

After I died, and the make up had dried, I went back to my place.
No moon that night, but a heavenly light shone on my face.
Still I thought it was odd, there was no sign of God just to usher me in.
Then a voice from above, sugar coated with Love, said, "Let us begin".

You got to fill out a form first, and then you wait in the line.
You got to fill out a form first, and then you wait in the line.

OK, a new kid in school, got to follow the rule, you got to learn the routine.
Woah, there's a girl over there, with the sunshiny hair, like a homecomin' queen.
I said, "Hey, what you say? It's a glorious day, by the way how long you been dead?"
Maybe you, maybe me, maybe baby makes three, but she just shook her head...

You got to fill out a form first, and then you wait in the line.
You got to fill out a form first, and then you wait in the line.

Buddah and Moses and all the noses from narrow to flat,
Had to stand in the line, just to glimpse the divine, what you think about that?
Well it seems like our fate to suffer and wait for the knowledge we seek.
It's all his design, no one cuts in the line, no one here likes a sneak

You got to fill out a form first, and then you wait in the line.
You got to fill out a form first, and then you wait in the line.

After you climb, up the ladder of time, the Lord God is here.
Face to face, in the vastness of space, your words disappear.
And you feel like swimming in an ocean of love, and the current is strong.
But all that remains when you try to explain is a fragment of song...
Lord is it, Be Bop A Lu La or Ooh Poppa Do
Lord, Be Bop A Lu La or Ooh Poppa Do
Be Bop A Lu La

Truth or lie, the silence is revealing
An empty sky, a hidden mound of stone
But the CAT scan's eye sees what the heart's concealing
Nowadays, when everything is known

Maybe love's an accident, or destiny is true
But you and I were born beneath a star of dazzling blue
Dazzling blue

Miles apart, though the miles can't measure distance
Worlds apart on a rainy afternoon
But the road gets dirty and it offers no resistance
So turn your amp up and play your lonesome tune

Maybe love's an accident, or destiny is true
But you and I were born beneath a star of dazzling blue
Dazzling blue

Dazzling blue, roses red, fine white linen
To make a marriage bed
And we'll build a wall that nothing can break through
And dream our dreams of dazzling blue

Sweet July, and we drove the Montauk Highway
And walked along the cliffs above the sea
And we wondered why, and imagined it was someday
And that is how the future came to be

Dazzling blue, roses red, fine white linen
To make a marriage bed
And we'll build a wall that nothing can break through
And dream our dreams of dazzling blue

I'm workin' on my rewrite, that's right
Gonna change the ending
Throw away the title
Toss it in the trash
Every minute after midnight
All the time I'm spending
Is just for workin'on my rewrite
Gonna turn it into cash

I been workin' at the Car Wash
I consider it my day job
'Cause it's really not a pay job
But that's where I am
Everybody says "The old guy
Workin'at the Car Wash?"
Hasn't got a brain cell left
Since Vietnam

[Chorus:]
But I say
Help me, help me
Help me, help me
Thankyou!
I'd no idea
That you were there

When I said help me, help me
Help me, help me
Thankyou
For listening to my prayer

I'll eliminate the pages
Where the father has a breakdown
And he has to leave the family
But he really meant no harm
Gonna substitute a car chase
And a race across the rooftops
Where the father saves the children
And he holds them in his arms

Yeah I'm workin'on my rewrite, all right
Gonna change my ending
Throw away the title
Toss it in the trash
Every minute after midnight
All the Time I'm spending
Is just for workin'on my rewrite.
Gonna turn it into cash

[Chorus:]
I said
Help me, help me
Help me, help me
Thankyou!
I'd no idea
That you were there

God and his only son
Paid a courtesy call on Earth one Sunday morning
Orange blossoms opened their fragrant lips
Songbirds sang from the tips of cotton roots
Old folks wept
For his love in these hard times

'Well, better be going,'
Said the the restless lord to his son
'There are galaxies yet to be born
Creation is never done
Anyway these people are slobs here
If we stay it's bound to be a mob scene'
Disappeared
And it's just like love in hard times

I loved her the first time I saw her
I know that's an old songwriting clich?
I loved her the first time I saw her
Can't describe it any other way
Any other way

The light of her beauty is warm as a summer day
Clouds of antelopes roll by
No hint of rain
Pale blue sky
Just love, love, love, love, love

But the rains came
The tears burned
The windows rattled
The locks turned
It's easy to be generous when you're owed
It's hard to be grateful
When you're out of control

And love is gone

The light at the edge of the curtain was the quiet dove
The bedroom weaves in clicks and clacks
My heart and my mind will never last
When your hand takes mine
Thank god I found you tonight
Thank god I found you tonight
Thank god I found you

Love is eternal sacred light
Free from the shackles of time
Evil is darkness, sight without sight
A demon that feeds on the mind

How'd it all begin? Started with a bang
Couple of light years later, stars and planets sang
Fire warmed the cold, waves of colors flew
Moonlight into gold, earth to green and blue

Love is eternal sacred light
Free from the shackles of time
Evil is darkness, sight without sight
A demon that feeds on the mind

Earth becomes a farm
Farmer takes a wife
Wife becomes a river and the giver of life
Man becomes machine
Oil runs down his face
Machine becomes a man with a bomb in the marketplace
Bomb in the marketplace, bomb in the marketplace

Love is eternal sacred light
Free from the shackles of time
Evil is darkness, sight without sight
A demon that feeds on the mind

Big Bang
That's a joke that I made up
Once when I had eons to kill
You know, most folks
They don't get when I'm joking
Well, maybe someday they will

Love me
Love me
That's the main request I receive
Well you know I love all my children
And it tears me up when I leave

But sometimes you gotta fly down that highway
Free as a bird, knock on wood, thank the Lord
I am driving along in my automobile
It's a brand new pre-owned '96 Ford

Check out the radio, pop music station
That don't sound like my music to me
Talk show host, what's that boy's name?
Politics is ugly

At the end of the dial there's the gospel show
Maybe now I can exit and rest
There's a blizzard rolling down off the banks of Lake Michigan
Gonna cover the roads of the icy Midwest

Love is eternal sacred light
Free from the shackles of time
Evil is darkness, sight without sight
A demon that feeds all the mind
Love is eternal sacred light
Love is eternal sacred light
Love is eternal sacred light

[No lyrics]

A pilgrim on a pilgrimmage
Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge
His sneakers torn
In the hour when the homeless move their cardboard blankets
And the new day is born

Folded in his backpack pocket
The questions that he copied from his heart
Who Am I in this lonely world?
Where will I make my bed tonight?
When twilight turns to dark

Questions for the angels...
Who believes in angels?
Fools do...
Fools and pilgrims all over the world

If you shop for Love in a bargain store
And you don't get what you are bargain for...
Can you get your money back?
If an empty train in a railway station
Calls you to its destination
Can you choose another track?

Will I wake up from these violent dreams?
With my hair as white as the morning moon?

Questions for the angels...
Who believes in angels?
I do...
Fools and pilgrims all over the world

Downtown Brooklyn
The pilgrim is passing a bill-board
And catches his eyes
It's Jay-Z
He's got a kid on each knee
He is wearing clothes that he wants us to try

If every human on the planet
And all the buildings in it
Should disappear
Would a zebra grazing in the african savana
Care enough to share one zebra tear?

Questions for the angels...

Love and blessings
Simple kindness
Fell like rain on thirsty land
Fields and gardens
Long abandoned
Came to life in dust and sand

Lover's lips sweet as honey
Touched as if old love was new
Banker's pockets overflowing with gold and money
Prophesies of wealth come true

Bop-bop-a-whoa
Ain't no song like an old song, Charlie
Bop-bop-a-whoa
There ain't no song like an old song,
Bop-bop-a-whoa
There ain't no time like a good time Charlie
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Ain't no times like the good times, Charlie
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Whoa

Bop-bop-a-whoa
Bop-bop-a-whoa

Everywhere you look anywhere you go
Everybody working for the
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Can't get enough of the
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Bop-bop-a-whoa
Bop-bop-a-whoa

If the summer kept a secret
It was heaven's lack of rain
Golden days and amber sunsets
Let the scientists complain
Came the autumn, drained of color
Ghosts in the water beg for more
Maple trees just a little bit duller
Than the memory of the year before

In a word, or in an image
Something called me from my sleep
Love and blessings
Simple kindness
Ours to hold but not to keep

I'm gonna make a chicken gumbo
Toss some sausage in the pot
I'm gonna flavor it with okra
Cheyenne pepper to make it hot
You know life is what we make of it
So beautiful or so what
I'm gonna tell my kids a bedtime story
A play without a plot
Will it have a happy ending?
Maybe yeah, Maybe not
I tell them life is what you make of it
So beautiful or so what
So beautiful, so beautiful
So what

I'm just a raindrop in a bucket
A coin in a slot
I am an empty house on Weed Street
Across the road from a vacant lot
You know life is what you make of it
So beautiful or so what

Aint it strange the way we're ignorant
How we seek out bad advice
How we jigger it and figure it
Mistaking value for the price
And play a game with time and Love
Like a pair of rolling dice
So beautiful, so beautiful
So what

Four men on the balcony
Overlooking the parking lot
Pointing at a figure in the distance
Dr. King has just been shot
And the sirens long melody
Singing savior pass me not
Aint it strange the way we're ignorant
How we seek out bad advice
How we jigger it and figure it
Mistaking value for the price
And play a game with time and love
Like a pair of rolling dice
So beautiful, so beautiful
So what