Pirates

Released: July 15, 1981.
Producer: Russ Titelman and Lenny Waronker.
Label: Warner Bros.
Length 38:38

1. We Belong Together

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

I say this was no game of chicken
You were aiming your best friend
That you wear like a switchblade on a chain around your neck
I think you picked this up in Mexico from your dad
Now its daddy on the booze
And Brando on the ice
Now it’s Dean in the doorway
With one more way he can’t play this scene twice So you drug her down every
drag of this forbidden fit of love
And you told her to stand tall when you
kissed her
But that’s not where you were thinking…
How could a Natalie Wood not get sucked into a scene so custom tucked?
But now look who shows up
In the same place
In this case
I think it’s better
To face it —
We belong together
We belong together

Once Johnny the King made a spit ring
And all the skid kids saw a very, very proud man
And he entwined her in his finger
And she lay there like a baby in his hand
And climb upon the rooftop docks lookin’ out on the cross-town seas
And he wraps his jacket across her shoulders
And he falls and hugs and holds her on his knees
But a sailor just takes a broad down to the dark end of the fair
To turn her into a tattoo
That will whisper
Into the back of Johnny’s black hair
And now Johnny the King walks these streets without her in the rain
Lookin’ for a leather jacket
And a girl who wrote her name forever
A promise that —
We belong together
We belong together

Shall we weigh along these streets
Young lions on the lam?
Are the signs you hid deep in your heart
All left on neon for them?
Who are foolish
Who are victim
Of the sailors and the ducky boys who would
Move into your eyes and lips and
Every tear
That falls down on the neighborhood now
I said “Bird, we just gotta tell them”
And they turn and ignore us
And the only heroes we got left
Are written right before us
And the only angel who sees us now
Watches through each other’s eyes
And I can hear him
In every footstep’s passing sigh
He goes crazy these nights
Watching heartbeats go by…
And they whisper —
We belong together
We belong together.

 

length: 4:59 minutes
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
drums: Steve Gadd

 

2. Living it Up

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

Eddie’s got one crazy eye
that turns him into a cartoon
when a pretty girl comes by
and there’s nothin’ here to do anymore
he sits on the stoop all day
like there’s something he’s waiting for
Cunt-finger Louie picks up Eddie in the alley
he’s got all those guys with him
from that town where they all
look like Frankie Valli
they speak fluently blonde
from her legs to her cigarette
and Louie told Eddie that he’d fix him up
but he ain’t come back yet
well, you know

It’s more trouble than it’s worth
it’s more trouble than it’s worth
Oh Wild and the Only ones
Tell him where you are —
Oh Wild and the Only ones
Tell him where you are
Tell him where you are

Zero quit school
and she lost her job again
and then her boyfriend beat her up
and now he won’t let her in
so she’s walking by this joint
in a black and blue dress
she looks at Louie who elbows Eddie who says “don’t tell me, lemme guess.”
It’s more trouble than it’s worth
He’s more trouble than he’s worth
Oh Wild and the Only ones
Tell him where you are —
Oh Wild and the Only ones
Tell her where you are

Well at first when it was this way
when they’re the only ones
and you’ve got all these ideas
you never tell to anyone
there are always magnets
pulling each of you there
living every story you’d dare
to be the only ones
the only ones…

Oh, who are living it up
oh yeah, we’re living it up
Oh, we’ll be living it up
oh yeah, we’ll be living it up
You and me, living it up
oh yeah, we’re living it up
gonna be living it up
oh yeah, we’re living it up
oh yeah, we’re living it up
oh yeah, we’re living it up
oh yeah, we’re living it up

Louie and Eddie found a reason then and there
carried her over the bridges like fluttering pages
they didn’t care
in the terminal where dreams
let so many tickets through
when strangers look in faces
and see somebody there they knew
you might meet me tomorrow
as all the lights are blooming green
and you’re feeling a little lonely,
a little sad, a little mean
remember a place
inside of that hotel
where you could do anything you want to do
you couldn’t tell

If it’s more trouble than it’s worth
ah, this is more trouble than it’s worth
Oh Wild and the Only ones
tell me where you are —
Oh Wild and the Only ones
I’m waiting you could
tell me where you are —
Oh Wild and the Only ones
why don’t you tell him where you are?

 

length: 6:23 minutes
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
“Oh yeah” vocals: Sal Bernardi

 

3. Skeleton

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

She was pregnant in May
Now they’re on their way
Dashing thru the snow
To St. John’s, here we go

Well, it could be a boy
But it’s okay if he’s a girl
Oh, these things that grow out of
The things that we give

We should move to the west side
They still believe in things
That give a kid half a chance

When he pulled off the road
Step in a waltz of red moonbeams
Said he fit an APB,
A robbery nearby

And he go for his wallet
And they thought he was going for a gun
And the cops blew Bird away

Some kids like watching Saturday cartoons
Some girls listen to records all day in their rooms
But what do birds leave behind,
of the wings that they came with
If a son’s in a tree building model planes?
Skeletons,
Skeletons.

 

RLJ-Vocals
Doug Belote-Drums
Zachary Richard-Accordion
James Singleton-Upright Bass
Shane Theriot-Guitar
David Torkanowsky-Wurlitzer Electric Piano

4. Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking

Written by Rickie Lee Jones and David Kalish

 

Dutch took ’em on the slow train to Peking
on La Brea Avenue
To find the Stax and Sun
They was reaching to get to
They was a rappin the fat scat
Diamond dialectos of points and taps
Between the chicken and the back
They drew themselves a bebop
Midnight map
They said “do you got a map the next joint?”
“Do you got a map the next joint?”

Pick it up on the night train
Down on the corner of rhythm and blues
Where I have met all of my boys since
Back in ’52
Bringing ’em Stax and Sun
Cuz I think that Cleveland forgot
And Memphis forgot
Where they were comin’ from
Do ya like it? Do ya like it like that?
Do you like rappin the fat scat?

Woody and Dutch dance in the cell of fourteen
Like a pill they do it all night
Spectators,
Whitewalls, fins and greased back
Every Saturday night
Leanin in the scenery
Pickin up the kids
At the next door neighbors’
“Yeah I know what you did
Yeah I got a room you can stay in
If you promise you won’t make so much noise”
“No I won’t”
“No I don’t!”

 

length: 5:15 minutes
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
background vocals: Rickie Lee Jones, Arno Lucas, Leslie Smith, and Joe Turano
boxes & thighs: Steve Gadd
guitar: David Kalish
trumpet and flugelhorn: Randy Brecker
alto sax: David Sanborn
tenor & baritone sax: Tom Scott

 

5. Pirates (so long lonely avenue)

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

Come on – Joey get out of school
We got places to go
A ’57 Lincoln you got a radio that hurts
And the girls like to touch it
Just to find out if it works
But don’t look at me
It wasn’t me

Joey live on the edge of the corner
Of living on the run
I like to ride in the middle
I’m just tryin’ to have some fun
Until the Pirates come
And take me

And I won’t need a pilot
Got a pirate who might sail
Somewhere I heard far away
You answer me
So I’m holding on
To your rainbow sleeves

Well, good-bye boys,
Oh my buddy boys,
Oh my sad-eyed Sinatras
It’s a cold globe around the sea
You keep the shirt that I bought ya
And I know you’ll get the chance to make it
And nothin’s gonna stop you
You just reach right out and take it
You say – So long, lonely Avenue
So long lonely avenue

I’ll see you there
Wait ‘n see
Be lookin’ for me
Just like you
Just like me

 

length: 3:50 minutes
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
drums: Steve Gadd
synthesizer: Donald Fagen
synthesizer: Rob Mounsey
harmonica: Sal Bernardi
trumpet and flugelhorn: Randy Brecker
tenor & baritone sax:Tom Scott
alto sax: David Sanborn

 

6. A Lucky Guy

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

Oh, he’s a lucky guy
Oh, he’s a lucky guy
He doesn’t worry about me
When I’m gone
He goes to sleep at night
He don’t turn off the light
And wonder how to find me
Or if I’m alone

Oh, he’s a lucky guy
I wish I was like him
Cuz when he talks about me
He don’t look this way
He’s a lucky guy

He used to walk with me
He used to talk to me
See, we have these secrets
That no one else could hear
Well, he’s not the only one
No, no not the only one
But what happens to them?

Do they matter?
Do they disappear
Into a lonely girl?
Now I’m a lonely girl
Cuz I want somebody with me in the world
Oh, he’s a lucky guy

Fortune walks right in the door
And here I am
Just like before

Well, I’m not gonna turn around
I’m not his pretty clown
I’m not the one caught
Like he thought
He was the last one I had there
Cuz I did a foolish thing
A real, real stupid thing

I told him I love him
And I want him there
When I knew he wouldn’t come

And I knew he didn’t care
And I’ll cry awhile
I’ll cry awhile
But when I wake up
Tomorrow is a new day
I’m a lucky guy
Hey, I’m a lucky guy
Real, real lucky guy
Hey, I’m a lucky guy

 

length: 4:14 minutes
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
drums: Art Rodriquez

7. Traces of the Western Slopes

Written by Rickie Lee Jones and Sal Bernardi

 

We go down round
The far side of the tracks
Lolitas playing dominoes and poker
Behind their daddy’s shacks
Vacant-eyes, glue-face boys
On a pearl splashing glass
If they give us any flack
If they come up on our ass
We’ll just give ’em the go-by
The Cadillac pass

Take me now
From the blue and pale room I’d follow
Through the faces and the traces of
Treasure I keep hearing inside me
Madmen throw their voices
From pretty boys
And from the best ones
You pick up connections
As they hand you your directions
To the Western Slope

I lied to my angel so I could take you downtown
I’d lie to anybody there was nobody else around
And I know what people say about me
But I lied to my angel and now he can’t find me
I’m sorry
I saw him
I saw him
Laughing
I could hear them
Laughing
Alive
I could hear them

E. A. Poe
And Johnny Johnson
If you dial in
They’re calling from the Western Slope
Who’s the thin thread of light
That keeps you strangled in the scenery
That follows my voice — can you see me?
Then follow my voice

Who raised this banner?
That no one hears — The Jack
Beneath the axis
Digging under the current
Someone’s trying to get back
But who’s qualified to retrieve
The soul’s enduring song?
From the grottos of her eyes
And the clashing stars
E. A. Poe
And Johnny Johnson
If you dial in
They’re calling from the Western Slope
Who’s the thin thread of light
That keeps you strangled in the scenery
That follows my voice — can you see me?
Then follow my voice — see me?

 

length: 8:00 minutes
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
vocals: Sal Bernardi
drums: Art Rodriguez
harmonica: Sal Bernardi
trumpet and flugelhorn: Jerry Hey

8. The Returns

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

 

But after all
There are such things
And these are the things
Who’ll turn your memories back into dreams again
Oh, it’s all flying and waving
For you to keep trying
You’re so close.
So close.
All the returns
One of these days,
One of these days,
One of these days,
One of these days.

 

length: 2:20 minutes
vocals: Rickie Lee Jones
keyboards: Randy Kerber

 

Rickie Lee Jones performed vocals and background vocals, played keyboards and synthesizer. She also arranged the horn sections and vocal arrangements.

Sal Bernardi – Harmonica/Vocals
Michael “Bobby” Boddicker – Synthesizer
Randy Brecker – Trumpet/Flugelhorn
Ralph Burns – Orchestral Arrangements
Lenny Castro – Percussion
Nick DeCaro – Orchestral Arrangements
Donald Fagen – Synthesizer
Buzzy Feiten – Guitars
Victor Feldman – Percussion
Russell Ferrante – Keyboards
Steve Gadd – Drums/Boxes & Thighs
Jerry Hey – Trumpet/Flugelhorn
David Kalish – Guitar
Randy Kerber – Keyboards
Neil Larsen – Keyboards
Arno Lucas – Background Vocals
Steve Lukather – Guitars
Clarence McDonald – Keyboards
Rob Mounsey – Synthesizer
Dean Parks – Guitars
Chuck Rainey – Bass
Art Rodriguez – Drums
David Sanborn – Alto Sax
Tom Scott – Tenor & Baritone Sax
Leslie Smith – Background Vocals
Joe Turano – Background Vocals