Lyrics

Crescent City Lament
©Doug Spears 2010

I went down to the old Cresent City,
To hear the Quarter roar again,
To feel that gritty heartbeat down along Bourbon Street,
That's got a a bite like bathtub gin,
But the jazz and the blues got drowned in cheap booze,
While in the distance a church bell rings,
And oh how the mighty have fallen,
When love just laughs at the King.

I saw a skinny girl down a dark side street,
Blowing a sweet saxophone,
The notes fell like tears on mostly deaf ears,
But that tune broke my heart like a stone,
In a pool of street light ignored by the night,
Ya gotta wonder why the caged bird sings,
And oh how the mighty have fallen,
When love just laughs at the King.

Well things may look the same but there's a sorrow and shame,
Behind the dark windows and the boarded up doors,
The soul of the song got out shown by neon,
Karaoke's what passes for art any more.

I found an old man down on Jackson,
Painting pictures of the things he sees,
Oh he seemed to have a touch with the colors and such,
So I asked if he'd paint one of me,
When I saw what he drew so simple and true,
I felt an old familiar sting,
And oh how the mighty have fallen,
When love just laughs at the King..

And oh how the mighty have fallen,
When love just laughs at the King.