I went to Staten Island To buy myself a mandolin And I saw the long white dress of love On a storefront mannequin
Big boat chuggin' back with a belly full of cars All for something lacy Some girl's going to see that dress And crave that day like crazy
The 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 I'm headed to the church to play Bingo 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
Sharon, I left my man 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 Or punishing somebody
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 want right now Is find another lover
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 More than anything
And when I went skating after Golden Reggie You know it was white lace I was chasing Chasing dreams 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 29 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 the power of reason And the flowers of deep feelings Seem to serve me Only to deceive me
Sharon, you've got a husband And a family and a farm I've got the apple of temptation And a diamond snake around my arm
But 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