Verse One Wish I was back! Wish I was back with all them cats! Tearing it up, man, just like we used to do. All decked out like the Devil’s own On Butane fumes and Bad cologne And fleecing sheep along the avenue.
When every wheel had a dame And every dame looked so fine With painted eyes, and smoky blue perfume Grab your tailored drapes and your lucky dice, ‘Cause man we going out tonight They waitin’ for us along the avenue
We could be down at the diner, eating red beans and rice Could be at the Coliseum, sippin’ Champagne on ice, I’m a telling you man, there was no better place to be, Than right then and right there, standin’ next to me!
Ah! The fine saloons and drinkin’ holes The marquee lights and burlesque shows Would open like a soft nocturnal bloom And the jazz would fill the air And curl like smoke and lick your ear As it drifted down old Seventh Avenue
(Chorus) And I say take me back I say now won’t you take me back Oh, take me back now, Back to Seventh Avenue And I say take me back I say now won’t you take me back Uh-huh
(Verse Two)
‘Cause man, we never worked a single day in our lives, We were the biggest sports that this town ever knew We turned a dollar for the revelry, A living out of lechery Merchandise stigmatized with disrepute
We ran the sweetest operation Had a piece of all the action How the cops got wise, well, no one really knew We stuck the books up in a toilet stall, And let some sucker take the fall Then disappeared down old Seventh Avenue
We could be down at the diner, eating red beans and rice Could be at the Coliseum, sippin’ Champagne on ice, Well, I’m a tellin’ you officer, there’s nothing you can pin on me! I got witnesses that say, they was standin’ next to me!
And in the event of my demise, Call up my favorite chorus line Let my requiem be a music hall revue. By one and all let it be said That while alive I surely lived Then lay bones to rest on Seventh Avenue
(Chorus)
Call it business, call it criminal Distinctions are political You take your seat and you play the hand that’s dealt you Lay your trump and take your trick And know that only hypocrites Will say they’re lookin’ out for number two
And while the cowards clung to Mama’s hem And all the Statute laws of men We breathe the musk of every last taboo And with every single scandal spent And nothing left to rebel against We still holed up on Seventh Avenue
We could be down at the diner, eating red beans and rice Could be at the Coliseum, sippin’ Champagne on ice, I’m a telling you man, there was on better place to be, Than right then and right there, and standin’ next to me!
And could it be that it was true That this silent, awe-struck moon That lit the night, shone for other mortals too? Or could it be that we were blessed And he existed just for us, Transfixed on the spectacle of Seventh Avenue?