William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed (Live)

[Part I]

[Intro]
Da da da da da da da, da da da da da da
Well, I've got a very simple and a very quiet song here which, uh
I wrote about Lincoln Park, uh
Just uh, when I came back from Chicago
I thought I'd write thunderous protest songs
And I didn't, I just wrote this one little song
I wrote two songs
I'll sing you, I'll sing you two songs about Chicago, the Chicago experience
This is, this is the first one
It's a—
Now there are many people who uh, who didn't come to Chicago
There was a big—
At one point everybody wanted to come to Chicago
And then it got very scary and then nobody wanted to come to Chicago
And five thousand of the, of the three hundred thousand showed up
Here's a song commemorating those who didn't show up
It's uh, if I remember the chords

[Verse]
Oh, where were you in Chicago?
You know I didn't see you there
I didn't see them crack your head
Or breathe the tear gas air
Oh, where were you in Chicago
When the fight was being fought?
Oh, where were you in Chicago?
'Cause I was in Detroit

[Part II]

[Intro]
That's about the movement psychology
And, uh
Bbut it really doesn't matter if you were in Chicago or not
Because whether you were or not, Chicago's going to come to Vancouver
As it's come to Los Angeles
Chicago's going to come everywhere in the Western Hemisphere
And we'll all get to meet Mayor Daley in person one way or the other
And more than anything else, Chicago was probably sadder than–
It was exhilarating at the time and then very sad afterwards
Because something very extraordinary died there, which was America

[Verse 1]
As I went out one evening
To take the evening air
I was blessed by a blood-red moon
In Lincoln Park the dark was turning
I spied a fair young maiden
And a flame was in her eye
And on her face lay the steel blue skies
Of Lincoln Park, the dark was turning, turning

[Verse 2]
They spread their sheets upon the ground
Just like a wandering tribe
And the wise men walked in their Robespierre robes
Through Lincoln Park the dark was turning
The towers trapped and trembling
And the boats were tossed about
When the fog rolled in and the gas rolled out
From Lincoln Park the dark was turning, turning

[Verse 3]
Like wild horses freed at last
We took the streets of wine
But I searched in vain for she stayed behind
In Lincoln Park the dark was turning
I'll go back to the city
Where I can be alone
And tell my friend she lies in stone
In Lincoln Park the dark was turning