Marc Cohn:
The Rainy Season (lyrics)
(1993)

I'm writing you this letter from some old hotel
I can feel the distance between us
From the Spanish Steps to the Liberty Bell
I know the angels have seen us... seen us, baby

They see you down on Seventh Avenue,
While you're just hanging by a thread
And I'm sitting in a lonely room without a view,
Wishing I was there with you instead

Won't you walk through this world with me
Walk through this world
Over the miles of mystery,
Walk through this world with me

I'm staring out across the rooftops, baby
I've seen the writing on the wall
Heard a little bit of thunder, at the seventh wonder,
But everything is bound to rise and fall, that's all

Walk through this world with me
Walk through the world.
Over the mountains and the shining sea,
Walk through this world with me... Walk on... Walk on, Walk on...

Let me get this ringing out of my ears,
Let me get these stars out of my eyes.
'Cause I just want to look back over all the years
With you right there standing by my side   
Could you just...

My father was a working man 
But his work was never done 
He stood behind a counter 
And he smiled at everyone 
He bought himself a business 
Worked seven days a week 
Took a holiday for Christmas 
Then he fell asleep beside the tree 
But one day 

One day 
There's love for the lonely 
One day 
They walk in the sun 
One day 
Rest for the weary 
Rest for the weary ones 

Now my mother stood beside him 
She did what she could do 
But if you look at some old photograph
She looks tired too 
I hope there was some laughter 
'Cause I know there were some tears
Now all I can say is I pray to God 
That after all those years 
After all those years 
That one day 

One day 
There's love for the lonely 
One day 
They walk in the sun 
One day 
Rest for the weary 
Rest for the weary ones 

Now I'm just another traveller 
On another winding road 
I'm trying to walk some kind of line
I'm trying to pull some kind of load 
Now sometimes I move real easy 
Sometimes I can't catch my breath 
Sometimes I see my father's footsteps
And man it scares me half to death 
But one day 

One day 
There's love for the lonely 
One day 
We walk in the sun 
One day 
Rest for the weary 
Rest for the weary ones 

Clouds move in 
From off the horizon 
Feels like nighttime 
In the middle of the day 
And I don't know why 
But it's still so suprisin' 
How a love grows stronger 
Or it just fades away

But you look older today 
Than I've ever seen you 
I think I know the reason 
We might wash all our tears away 
But you got to bundle up baby
For the rainy season

I hear you breathing heavy 
On the telephone tonight 
I can feel the air is thick as thieves 
Sometimes I just want to tell you 
We'll be all right
At least that's what some part of me believes

But you look older today 
Than I've ever seen you 
Think I know the reason 
We might wash all our tears away 
But you got to bundle up, bundle up, bundle up
For the rainy season 

Oh, oh I've been holding on so long 
Holding on and holding on so long 
Oh, oh I've been holding on so long 
Won't you bundle up baby 
Could you bundle up, bundle up, bundle up
For the rainy season 

Dogs are barking and she's so high, she's never coming down
Don't wanna pull the shade tonight, I think I'm wanna drown
I'm sending out a message, or could I die too soon?
'Cause I don't know where I'm going,
Since Mama's in the moon

Now, I can hear her laughing, and I can hear her cry
I can see her dancing somewhere in the sky
I'm rising like the ocean, and I'm crazy as a loon
And I don't know what I'm doing,
Since Mama's in the moon

The dogs are barking and she's so high,

And she's never coming down

Don't talk to her when shooting stars are falling 
Don't talk to her when she can smell the jasmine in the air
Don't talk to her when no one knows you're calling 
You might just say the words that keep her waiting there

Don't talk to her when she is softly sleeping 
Don't wake her to the sound of your voice whispering her name
Don't tell her all the secrets you've heen keeping 
Don't tell her that you're drowning in a river of shame

When the wolf is howling 
Underneath the moon 
Underneath the window 
Of a hotel room 
Burn the blanket 
Shoot the light 
But don't talk to her at night

Don't talk to her in thunder or in lightning
Don't talk to her with fuses blown and wires falling down
Don't talk to her when the fever is frightening 
When she's burning in the bedroom in an evening gown

Or when the wolf is howling 
Undernearh the moon 
Underneath the window 
Of a hotel room 
Burn the blanket 
Shoot the light 
But don't talk to her at night 
Don't talk to her at night

Well, I had just checked in when the sun came up
After ten hours on the bus
I was staring at the stains on the ceiling, baby,
Trying not to think about us
But then someone in a room five-oh two
Started doing the thing that we used to do
Every bang, every boom,
It was just like it was happening in my own room.

'Cause they've got paper walls, paper walls,
Paper walls...  ooh, yeah

I closed the curtain, I shut the light,
I heard the highway moan.
Next thing I remember they were having a fight,
And then, she was all alone
I heard her cry in the darkest hour,
I heard it echo in the hotel shower,
I heard her start packing her things, so,
I called her number and I heard it ring...

Right through the paper walls, paper walls,
Paper walls,  oooh yeah, now

I've never seen such a sight before,
The way she looked when she opened the door
Hush now baby don't make a sound,
When all your love comes a-tumblin' down...

Just like a paper wall, paper wall,
Paper wall,  Ooh just like a paper wall

It ain't the road that kills you, baby,
It's the all night calls;
It ain't the road that kills you, baby,
It's just the paper walls

I can see you with the top down
In that car you keep under the eaves
I can see the ocean wind blow
Through your hair
And all along your sleeves
I see you turning up the radio
Listening to the DJ's dedication
I can see you with the angels
Flying off the tower
At the station

Me I keep watching from the corner of my eye
Looking for some reason I should run
I know you don't have your answers either baby
But at least you know that you can really love someone

I see you kneeling in the garden
Closer now to something real and true
I see you feeding something beautiful
And I think that's all you ever
Really wanted to do
Now you're blowing out the candles
Now the guests pull out the drive
Now you're listening for the telephone
Of footsteps
That don't arrive

Me I keep watching from the corner of my eye
Looking for some reason I should run
I know you don't have your answers either baby
But at least you know that you can really love someone
Really love
Really love
You can really love someone

Lately he can feel it 
Turning off inside his heart 
She's calling him from the car phone 
And she's falling apart 
Now he could call in her prescription 
And they will take it down off the shelf 
But he knows that he can't save her from herself no more
No more

And you can ride home in the country doctor 
And you might do the best that you can 
But who is gonna help the medicine man 
Who is gonna save him?

Now he always was a healer 
There was something in his eyes 
And his hand upon your head 
When fever started to rise 
And there's someone he lost long ago 
Now there's flowers on her grave 
And they say that it's still her 
That he's trying to save 
He's trying to save her 

And you can ride home in the country doctor 
And you might do the best that you can 
But who is gonna help the medicine man 
Who is gonna save the medicine man?
Who is gonna save him?

Who is gonna save him? 

Later on in the evening 
When the sun goes sinking down 
He goes out for a walk 
Along the sound 
And he thinks he can hear her 
Calling him away 
But he tells her he must wait 
Another day 
Wait another day 

Baby King 
Baby King 
You got to get ready for a baby king 
You might dance daddy 
You might sing 
But you never seen nothin' like a baby king

It was a bright and sunny summer morn and she said 
(Get ready for a baby king) 
It wasn't too long 'fore he was born 
(Get ready for a baby king) 
You could hardly tell by the look on his face 
(Get ready for a baby king) 
That pretty soon he was gonna run the place 
(Get ready for a baby king) 

Now he is strong and he is wise 
(Get ready for a baby king) 
He sees right through your old disguise 
(Get ready for a baby king) 
Now you might think that you got it down 
(Get ready for a baby king) 
Wait till baby king comes to town 
(Get ready for a baby king) 

Baby King 
Baby King 
You got to get ready for a baby king 
You might dance daddy 
You might sing 
But you never seen nothin' like a baby king

No Virgin Mary brought him here 
(Get ready for a baby king) 
But the angels whispered in his tiny little ear
(Get ready for a baby king) 
Then they sent him down from up above
(Get ready for a baby king) 
Just to show you how to really love 
(Get ready for a baby king) 

Baby King 
Baby King 
You got to get ready for a baby king 
You might dance daddy 
You might sing 
But you never seen nothin' like a baby king 

She runs down the staircase 
And into the yard 
And she goes down to the end of the drive
With her friends on the phone 
And her angels on guard 
She's just recently feeling alive 
After all of the tears and the changes 
Now there's something that's taken ahold
She's becoming gold 
She's becoming gold 

She thinks of a boy 
That she knew back in school 
And she wonders if he's doing all right 
The man of her dreams 
Isn't all that he seems 
And the baby don't sleep through the night
Something is moving inside her 
And the weather is turning so cold 
But she's becoming gold, 
She's becoming gold 
She's becoming gold (I've seen her) 
She's becoming gold 

She can hear in the distance 
The sound of the cars 
And she sees the snow falling down on the hill
Now the trees and the houses 
Are white as the stars 
And she doesn't wanna cry 
But she probably will 
As she thinks about all of life's mystery 
And how slowly the answers unfold 
She's becoming gold 
She's becoming gold 

Don't know much about you 
Don't know who you are 
We've been doing fine without you 
But, we could only go so far 
Don't know why you chose us 
Were you watching from above 
Is there someone there that knows us 
Said we'd give you all our love 

Will you laugh just like your mother 
Will you sigh like your old man 
Will some things skip a generation 
Like I've heard they often can 
Are you a poet or a dancer 
A devil or a clown 
Or a strange new combination of 
The things we've handed down 

I wonder who you'll look like 
Will your hair fall down and curl 
Will you be a mama's boy 
Or daddy's little girl 
Will you be a sad reminder 
Of what's been lost along the way 
Maybe you can help me find her 
In the things you do and say 

And these things that we have given you 
They are not so easily found 
But you can thank us later 
For the things we've handed down 

You may not always be so grateful 
For the way that you were made 
Some feature of your father's 
That you'd gladly sell or trade 
And one day you may look at us 
And say that you were cursed 
But over time that line has been 
Extremely well rehearsed 
By our fathers, and their fathers 
In some old and distant town 
From places no one here remembers 
Come the things we've handed down