from THE SERMON ON EXPOSITION BOULEVARD

Where I Like It Best

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    Rickie Lee Jones


    I wanted to pray
    I wanted to let you go on your way
    I wanted to know why they laid there
    Dying in the streets next to the restaurant
    Where people were eating and yes
    I wanted to pray

    How do you pray in a world like this
    You know, I see the people on TV
    And they close their eyes and they bow their heads
    And they say "Let us pray"
    And it feels so cold and meaningless
    And I wanted to pray
    And I said
    Tell me father
    Tell me mother
    Heavenly mother
    And they said

    When you pray
    Pray alone by yourself
    In the secret room of your heart
    Don't go out into the church filled with people and pray
    God hears every secret that you say
    See all those people praying on TV and the churches
    They like to make a big parade out of what they're doing
    They think God hears them louder if they say it
    Over and over and over and over and over again

    But I say, God, but I say this
    You are the prayer
    Your eyes are the prayer
    Your hand on your cheek
    You are the prayer
    Those words you want to speak
    They are the prayer
    That dance you make
    When you're by yourself
    Just before your mother calls you on the phone
    You are the prayer
    I tell you what
    You gotta take it back from them
    Because the prayers belong to you
    All you gotta do is say hey hey
    I'm down here too, I'm down here too
    I'm down here too
    And I hear you in the trees
    And I hear you
    And I'm near you
    I wonder why there's so much suffering

    I want to say thank you, thank you
    Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you
    I wanted to say thank you, thank you
    I wanted to say
    I wanted to say
    You are where I like it best
    You are where I like it best
    You are where I like it best

    That's the Lords' prayer
    "You are where I want to be"
    So, amen, just amen
    Amen, all by myself, amen, amen
    I'm so lonely, just amen
    And I'm rising, rising, just amen
    You can look through my eyes
    Hear through my hear
    Look through my eyes.




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