[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

I asked you if a man could be forgiven

And though I failed at love, was this a crime?

You said, "Don't worry, don't worry, darling"

You said, "Don't worry, don't you worry, darling

There are many ways a man can serve his time"

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

Oh, the night it is thick, my defenses are hid In the clothes of a woman I would like to forgive In the rings of her silk, in the hinge of her thighs Where I have to go begging in beauty's disguise Oh, goodnight, goodnight, my night after night My night after night after night after night after night

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

Now the deal has been dirty

Since dirty began

I'm not asking for mercy

Not from the man

You just don't ask for mercy

While you're still on the stand

There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand

There's a Law, there's an Arm, there's a Hand

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

Ah, but a man never got a woman back

Not by begging on his knees

Or I'd crawl to you baby and I'd fall at your feet

And I'd howl at your beauty like a dog in heat

And I'd claw at your heart, and I'd tear at your sheet

I'd say please (please)

I'm your man

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

And look dear heart, look at the virgin

Look how she welcomes him into her gown

Yes, and mark how the stranger's cold armour

Dissolves like a star falling down

Why trade this vision for desire

When you may have them both

You will never see a man this naked

I will never hold a woman this close

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

I built my house beside the wood

So I could hear you singing

And it was sweet and it was good

And love was all beginning

Fare thee well my nightingale

It was long ago I found you

Now all your songs of beauty fail

The forest closes 'round you

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

Yeah I dreamed about you, baby It was just the other night Most of you was naked Ah but some of you was light The sands of time were falling From your fingers and your thumb And you were waiting For the miracle, for the miracle to come

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

Well, I argued all night like so many have before Saying, "Whatever you give me, I seem to need so much more." Then she pointed at me where I kneeled on her floor She said, "Don't try to use me or slyly refuse me Just win me or lose me It is this that the darkness is for."

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

And you got away, didn't you, baby? You just turned your back on the crowd You got away, I never once heard you say I need you, I don't need you I need you, I don't need you And all of that jiving around I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best I can't keep track of each fallen robin I remember you well in Chelsea Hotel That's all, I don't even think of you that often

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

Had to go crazy to love you Had to let everything fall Had to be people I hated Had to be no one at all

I'm tired of choosing desire I've been saved by a blessed fatigue The gates of commitment unwired And nobody trying to leave

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

It's dark now and it's snowing O my love I must be going, The river has started to freeze. And I'm sick of pretending I'm broken from bending I've lived too long on my knees. Then she dances so graceful and your heart's hard and hateful and she's naked but that's just a tease. And you turn in disgust from your hatred and from your love and comes to you light as the breeze.

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

We find ourselves on different sides Of a line nobody drew Though it all may be one in the higher eye Down here where we live it is two I to my side call the meek and the mild You to your side call the Word By virtue of suffering I claim to have won You claim to have never been heard

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

Tell me again

When I've been to the river

And I've taken the edge off my thirst

Tell me again

We're alone and I'm listening

I'm listening so hard that it hurts

Tell me again

When I'm clean and I'm sober

Tell me again

When I've seen through the horror

Tell me again

Tell me over and over

Tell me that you want me then

Amen...

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

Steer your way past the ruins of the altar and the mall

Steer your way through the fables of creation and the fall

Steer your way past the palaces that rise above the rot

Year by year, month by month, day by day

Thought by thought

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

Looked through the paper Makes you want to cry Nobody cares if the people Live or die And the dealer wants you thinking That it's either black or white Thank God it's not that simple In My Secret Life

[dispatches-hotelchelsae]

And when He knew for certain Only drowning men could see Him He said, "All men will be sailors then Until the sea shall free them"