Five Years
Pushing thru the market squareSo many mothers sighingNews had just come overWe had five years left to cry inNews guy wept and told usEarth was really dyingCried so much his face was wetThen I knew he was not lying
I heard telephones, opera house, favourite melodiesI saw boys, toys, electric irons and TV'sMy brain hurt like a warehouseIt had no room to spareI had to cram so many things to store everything in thereAnd all the fat-skinny people and all the tall-short peopleAnd all the nobody people and all the somebody peopleI never thought I'd need so many people
A girl my age went off her headHit some tiny childrenIf the black hadn't a-pulled her offI think she would have killed themA soldier with a broken armFixed his stare to the wheels of a CadillacA cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priestAnd a queer threw up at the sight of that
I think I saw you in an ice cream parlourDrinking milkshakes cold and longSmiling and waving and looking so fineDon't think you knew you were in this songAnd it was cold and it rained, so I felt like an actorAnd I thought of Ma and I wanted to get back thereYour face, your race, the way that you talkI kiss you, you're beautiful, I want you to walk
We've got five years, stuck on my eyesFive years, what a surpriseWe've got five years, my brain hurts a lotFive years, that's all we've got