Bert’s Blues

Give me a good show, give me parades
Slap your hands at the foot of the stage
I’m going to sing you… Bert’s Blues

Toast the rye and slop the whey
While all my friends are slipping away
Just for singing… Bert’s Blues

Baby, we should be in the pictures
You got the look you can play the part all right
I swear that everything’s just gonna be peachy
Just so long you don’t mind traveling by night

I got dreams and I got thrills
I’m making up stories to pay the bills
It’s a living… Bert’s Blues

The bad man drops what the good man steals
From Shakespeare down to the banana peel
That’s the way it goes… Bert’s Blues

Honey, I wouldn’t take it so personal
After all, you know, a man is but a man
And though the shark will show his pearly teeth, dear
Most men will stab you as they shake your hand

Good folks running, what you gonna do?
A wise man’s gonna cut a baby in two
What you gonna do? …Bert’s Blues

Everybody wants me on their side
Whether it’s neckties or tie-dye
I might have lied a little… Bert’s Blues

Ain’t that cruel and ain’t that California?
Or is this Berlin, 1939?
Everybody’s got their way of hiding
Everybody’s got their favorite wine

Jingle-jangle in a circus tent
Juggling verfremdungsteffect
That’s the way we do it… Bert’s Blues

I don’t know what it is these days
Everybody’s getting taken away
Just for singing… Bert’s Blues

I’m thinking what Benji always told me
“If they’re after you, you must be doing it right”
Now Benji’s dead and I’m all sad and broken
I’m screwing in a brand new stage light