Rickie Lee Jones

Traffic From Paradise (1993)

HOME

MENU

1. Pink Flamingos (RLJ)
2. Altar Boy (RLJ)
3. Stewart's Coat (RLJ)
4. Beat Angels (Sal Bernardi)
5. Tigers (RLJ & Sal Bernardi)
6. Rebel Rebel (David Bowie)
7. Jolie Jolie (RLJ)
8. Running From Mercy (RLJ & Leo Kottke)
9. A Stranger's Car (RLJ)
10. The Albatross (RLJ, Kottke, Leftwitch)

Rickie Lee Jones

Pink Flamingos

Dan and I like Las Vegas, never seen the sea

Where the river, where the river bed runs dry

She closes his eyes, puts her ear to his shirt

And listens to the whole wide earth

Lila's ready, she look in the mirror

He has stopped, he can't hear her

She stops in a bar, apparently she is unhurt

And with a little bit of change, oh feels good

She washes her wings in the dirt

And the bar is filled with angels cuz the world is turned upside down

All of you've been walking on your heads

Since the day your feet touched the ground

Any day, any day we'll go home

Any day, any day we'll go home, home

Well he knocks on the door, someone show him how

And I seen them before, I know him somehow

Why does he stick to my fingers?

Why does this look like his soul?

They could just make him a heaven or hell

What don't they?

I don't know

What do they want with these angels?

Why don't they take them to Reno?

Nobody ever comes for them

They're all inside of the casinos

Look at them poking like flightless birds falling from paper plates

Oh home, heavenly earthbound

But the spirit cannot wait to fly like the pink flamingos

To fly like the pink flamingos, fly, fly ?

Altar Boy

A monk with a hard on in a lavender robe

That scratches his thighs for the height that he strode

As he follows a path filled with harried desire

And mimics his footsteps and sets his prayers on fire

Glad to have chosen that which left no choice

To sing without loving in a solitary voice

To observe with passion each careful denial

The protrusions which give my life meaning for a while

Sometimes I see you in embarrasing ways

You're brushing your teeth with licorice seeds

Standing too close, holding your clothes

Smiling at God, the meaning of life grows

No, no I'll never tell and I'll never know

What candles you light after the show

And I'll never tell and I'll never ask

The meaning of life after mass

Stewart's Coat

Hold me love, I can't sleep again

Will I have to kiss your nose?

I wanna lay here next to him, love

I remember walking in the rain

Rain was falling on my hands

I don't wanna live through that again, no

Outside the heart it gets dark now

And I was walking in the park now

Children singing songs that

Will now make all our dreams come true

I'm in love with you

I know it takes is love

Love is a healing thing

When you give everything

You're loving the world

The world gives you love to hold onto

Remembering, we seldom remember love

Chorus:

(Somewhere) Just give me many chances

(Far away) I'll see you through it all

(Remember) Just give me time to learn to crawl

In September, when the rain comes and the wind blows

I will see you walking in the coat of ?

If you'll let me, I will keep you here inside the stars

I will love the salt on my sheets

Oh you'll love me?

(repeat chorus)

Beat Angels

Begging round the sun beaten streets

I can't make me no connections

Locals here no speak no English

Where is my woman, well no one knows

Ah well, some girls just have to leave in the night

While you're fast asleep

But I don't worry, I move in the dark

There were lights, there were border lights

I thought I heard that drum in the distance playing

I saw the light, I crossed my heart and beat angels were there

I woke in some hotel room

I could hardly remember my name

They were only sixteen years old

I felt so lonely, I felt so ashamed

I know sometimes I just have to leave

In the night, while you're fast asleep

But I don't worry, I move in the dark

There were lights, there were border lights

I thought I heard that drum in the distance playing

I turned around, I crossed my heart and beat angels were there

Don't you wonder where one goes wrong

Is it somewhere in a foreign rain?

We're sitting out the storm

Every lamplight in town

Man don't know when he's got it his grace

Till beat angels come and take her away, beat angels, beat angels

Well I crossed my heart and beat angels were there, beat angels?

Jolie Jolie

Jolie, jolie, pretty little thing

All I want you to do is just be happy

And we went on a walk and we went on a hill

And come back up again, you know I will

Just to bring you the mail, to me it's just another hill

Jolie, jolie, dancing love

All I want you to do is just be happy, be happy

Do you want me to fly to heaven's gate?

I won't wait

I'll go right away cuz to me it's just another day

Jolie, jolie, dancing

All I want you to do is just be happy, even happier than that

Do you want me to stop every time I start?

When I kiss your lips and you break my heart

But I do this to me it's just a little kiss

It's just a little kiss

Uh, huh, stay right there on the "A"

Yeah baby stay there

Oh daddy, you can only do the best you can

I just want you to be happy, eh

Running From Mercy

Oh sacred place that sets my soul alive

There's a rainbow above me that the storm clouds hide

And kind works will never die

Cuz the magic in kindness springs from the love, love, love

Little acts of kindness and little words of love

Make our earthly home heaven above

And there is no sorrow heaven cannot heal

A fire within, no cross, no crown

Running from mercy, hidden and coy

Swimming upstream down oceans of joy

Die in the arms of a natural life

Waking our happiness drowning in light

Waking our happiness drowning in light

Little acts of kindness, little words of love

Make our earthly home like heaven above

And there is no sorrow heaven cannot heal

A fire within, no cross, no crown

This thing would end up on the wind

Slow to stop our ways sing (chorus)

You, you wake up!, come on boy, come on little boy

Don't you stop her, don't you stop her

There's that door

I've got that door

I know where that door is

Just follow me and you wake up

Come on with me girl

Tomorrow

A Stranger's Car

Take the train

Oh you have run as far as you can go

They've tied your fingers to rails of stars

Can you hear the whistle blow?

There's is no one here to beat out your brains

There's no one who'll make you cry

If your parents kill you year by year

Well here's the time to say goodbye

And it's oh so bad from far away

And it's always warm inside

There's children there

There's children there

Who will touch your face?

Who will fill your pockets?

Avoid that tangled street

And who will count the marbles there?

And who will save your penny ring?

Come and meet the angels born this day

Sleep now the night is late

Be still until this wayward bird lets go of heaven's gate

The Albatross

There, there is my ship

Finally come in

I see the mast rolling on the steps

Over the garden wall

I hear the sailor's call

I see the albatross

Over and down now I'll go home

Home to my children I left behind

Long ago with my mother the moon

That's where my father is

This broken heart is his

Archipelago is turning, turning to strangers

Here in the world, turning to strangers

Oh, they hold on

Here, here's where we live

Here is a sea, my family

We'll always be young as we've ever been

Death will not part us again nearer to heaven than

10,000 ancestors who dream of me

Well I hear you dreaming of me

Yeah sometimes, dream of me!