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The Streets Are Wet With Tears (Baby)

from Dark Ages —remastered 2nd edition by David Nigel Lloyd

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I packed my guitar, said “See ya” to the folks in Toronto and hopped on board Greyhound Bus number 1849, the year of the California Gold Rush: a good omen. I arrived in Hollywood California on Friday the 13th of June, 1975: a bad omen. One day, a music publisher said, “Street talk is what’s happening now, baby. Gimmie a song with street talk.” I went back to my apartment and wrote this song. “Here it is, baby,” I said.

lyrics

The streets are wet with tears, baby!
The streets are wet with tears, baby!

I was only 21 and too stupid to feel sad
when I got on that Greyhound Bus and the only things I had
with me were clothing, a novel, an electric guitar
and that womb-warm feeling that that bus would take me far
into the night, the West, to California.
The chosen boy in the promised land of milk and panacea,
I did not feel discomfort sleeping upright in my seat.
I did not entertain the slightest prospect of defeat.

The early summer sun rose like a bicentennial quarter.
Her naked body hardly broke the silence of the water
in the backyard swimming pool, defining beautiful
as eternity vibrating and never hesitating.
I knew she would understand me and help me tell my story
in the glory of July while simple censured fury
was still hidden like a reptile as I rubbed her body down.
I thought great thoughts of love inside her house in tinsel town.

The streets are wet with tears.
In every face a face appears.
Such burning light within the rain,
burning to get lost again.

Here comes another singer down these streets of misery.
Maybe he can help to free the world of its insanity.
Can he undo his hollow humor? Can he wake his wild sadness?
Can he sing a single note that won’t contribute to the madness?
No. He does not know his golden precious trusted wings of song
are nothing but the wings of fear that haunted him so long.

(words and music: David Nigel Lloyd)

credits

from Dark Ages —remastered 2nd edition, released August 17, 1984
Brandon Curtis: violin. DNL: guitars, zills, vocals.

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David Nigel Lloyd Yreka, California

David Nigel Lloyd emerged from LA’s new wave scene with the acoustic Dark Ages in 1984. An Age of Fable added traditional songs to the DNL mix in 1987. Death in Los Fumos [1996] blended song poetry, skits and found sound while How Like Ghosts Are We [1998] returned to traditional music. Rivers, Kings and Curses featured blues legend Nat Dove and the Incredible String Band’s Robin Williamson. ... more

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