Written by Rickie Lee Jones
Nominated for Best New Song, Grammy® 1980

How come he don’t come and p.l.p. with me
Down at the meter no more?
How come he turn off the TV
And he hang that sign on the door?
We call and we call “How come?” we say
What could make a boy behave this way?

He learn all of the lines, and every time he
don’t stutter when he talk
And it’s true! It’s true! He sure is acquired a
cool and inspired sorta jazz when he walk
Where’s his jacket and his old blue jeans?
If this ain’t healthy is it some kinda clean?

I think that Chuck E’s in love
Chuck E’s in love

I don’t believe what you’re saying to me
This is something I gotta see Is he here?
Look in the poolhall Is he here?
Look in the drugstore Is he here?
No, he don’t come here no more

I’ll tell you what I saw him
He was sittin’ behind us down at the Pantages
And whatever it is that he’s got up his sleeve
I hope it isn’t contagious
What’s her name? Is that her there?
Christ, I think he’s even combed his hair!

Is that her? What’s her name?
Oh, it’s never going to be same.
But that’s not her
I know what’s wrong–
Chuck E’s in love with the little girl who’s singing this song

Chuck E’s in love
Chuck E’s in love with me.

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

The most as you’ll ever go
Is back where you used to know
If grown-ups could laugh this slow
Where as you watch the hour snow
Years may go by

So hold on to your special friend
Here, you’ll need something to keep her in :
“Now you stay inside this foolish grin … “
Though any day your secrets end
Then again
Years may go by

You saved your own special friend
‘Cuz here you need something to hide her in
And you stay inside that foolish grin
When everyday now secrets end
Oh and then again

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

Here I’m going
Walkin’ with my baby in my arms
‘Cuz I am in the wrong end of the eight ball black
And the devil, see, he’s right behind us
And this worker said she’s gonna take my little baby
My little angel back
But they won’t getcha,
‘Cuz I’m right here witcha
On the Night Train

Swing low, Saint Cadillac
Tearin’ down the alley
And I’m reachin’ so high for ya
Don’t let ’em take me back
Broken like valiums and chumps in the rain
That cry and quiver
When a blue horizon is sleeping in the station
With a ticket for a train
Surely mine will deliver me there

Here she comes…
I’m safe here with you
On the Night Train
Oh mamma, mamma,
Concrete is wheeling by
Down at the end of a lullaby
On the Night Train

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

Take a walk around midnight in the City
Young Blood is hiding there somewhere
If you’re looking for something to do
There’s always something happening there

Like I & Bragger, we borrowed a coupe today
Here come Pepe and she’s got a friend in a Chevrolet
But she ain’t running
She’s walking a little slow
And she ain’t crying– she’s just singing a little low

They say this city will make you dirty
But you look all right
You feel real pretty when he’s holding you tight
City will make you mean
But that’s the make-up on your face
Love will wash you clean in the night’s disgrace

Find a block where your people can find you
Keep a third eye watching behind you
You never know when you’re making a memory
They will wish they were here together again, someday
Kids looking for something to get into–
Take a look
Two for the movie show
Three in the back row
Hold on tight!
Remember, you might have looked like cool twelve
But your fuse felt just like dynamite

City will make you dirty
But you look all right
You feel real pretty when he’s holding you tight
City will make you mean
But that’s the make-up on your face
Love will wash you clean in the night…

Take a walk around midnight in the City
Young Blood will find you there, somewhere
And if you’re looking for something to do
There’s always something happening there
Something’s happening there,
Something’s happening there

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

There was a Joe
Leanin’ on the back door
A couple Jills with their eyes on a couple bills
Their eyes was statin’
They was waitin’
To get their hands on some easy money

They flipped a dime
One said ” well, I’ll take heads this time”
One stepped up
One stepped back
One loosened her shoulder strap
She couldn’t speak,
Her knees got weak
She could almost taste that easy money

There was this old black cat
Sittin’ in an old black cadillac
The Joe smelled sweet
She curled up at her boyfriend’s feet
She said “I got a plan
Listen, Sam, how’d ya like to make some Easy Money ? “
He say, “Yes! Oh Yes!
Jus’ tell me what you want me to do “
She said, “Baby, you can trust me
Baby, but you must be hidin’ in my room
At a quarter to two”
Well, the cat told the boy
“Come up to the room and play with my toy”
But the Jill set the bait
And she wasn’t gonna sit around and wait
But this guy was wise to all the lies
And he flies out the door
With the easy money

Because there ain’t no man
Who got the money in his hand
Who got any of that bread
Bein’ slow in the head
The easier it looks
The hotter it hooks
There ain’t no such thing as easy money
We say, “Yes! Oh Yes!”
Saturday night
There was a terrible, terrible fight
Between two dames who was losin’ the same game
It wasn’t clear,
But I hear somebody was lookin’ for some easy money

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

A long stretch of headlights
Bends into I-9
Tiptoe into truck stops
And sleepy diesel eyes
Volcanoes rumble in the taxi
And glow in the dark
Camels in the driver’s seat
A slow, easy mark

But you ran out of gas
Down the road a piece
Then the battery went dead
And now the cable won’t reach…

It’s your last chance
To check under the hood
Last chance
She ain’t soundin’ too good,
Your last chance
To trust the man with the star
You’ve found the last chance Texaco

Well, he tried to be Standard
He tried to be Mobil
He tried living in a world
And in a shell
There was this block-busted blonde
He loved her – free parts and labor
But she broke down and died
And threw all the rods he gave her

But this one ain’t fuel-injected
Her plug’s disconnected
She gets scared and she stalls
She just needs a man, that’s all

It’s her last chance
Her timing’s all wrong
Her last chance
She can’t idle this long
Her last chance
Turn her over and go
Pullin’ out of the last chance Texaco
The last chance

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

Downstairs at Danny’s all-star joint
They got a juke box that goes doyt-doyt
The vice is nice, they stay in the back all day
But when the nighttime comes, hey-hey
There’s this cat down there that makes a bad kinda soup
I come around struttin’ my luck in my shoop coupe
Cecil gives me coffee
And he won’t never take my coin
I say, ” I got thirty dollars in my pocket!
Whatchoo doin’? “

I holler, ” Come on, Cecil, take a dollar!
Come on, Cecil, take a ten!
I’ve finally geared up into a whole buncha big ones
And you’re actin’ like I’m down-shiftin’ “

He knows all the under-riders on the boulevard
They got to barefoot cruise when it’s forty-weight hard
They look particularly dead-beat
Permanently pale
Cecil picks up his butcher knife
Waves it at the jail
The kid say, ” I ain’t got no dough, Joe, I just want some OJ “
I said, ” Don’t look at me ” ( Cuz he was lookin’ my way )
Cecil wink upon him some juice and some green
And the kid walks over and puts the quarter in the pinball machine
And he says, ” Come on, Cec, gimme a dollar
Come on Cecil gimme five
I’m in a halfway house on a one-way street
And I’m a quarter past left alive “
He can talk about your people in a wonderful way
He can talk about your people ’til your hair turns gray

Your sister’s into mustard
She loves to walk the pub
She likes the pickles and the relish she never gets enough
A Hershey milkshake steamin’ on a stick
For a Card Blanché sandwich
Oh, lettuce get thick

It’s not because I’m dirty
It’s not because I’m clean
It’s not because I kiss the boys behind the magazine
Hey boys?
How ’bout a fight?
Cuz here comes Rickie with the girdle on tight

And if she don’t know your name
She knows what you got
From Your matzo balls
To the chicken-in-the-pot
chicken-in-the-pot
chicken-in-the-pot

Downstairs at Danny’s All Star Joint
They got a juke box that goes doyt-doyt
A finger-snappin’ deluxe
Make your be-bop bap
And your R&B hep-scat

You can’t break the rules until you know how to play the game
But if you just want to have a little fun
You can mention my name
Keep your feet in the street
Your toes in the lawn
But keep your business in your pocket
This is it were it belongs

Come on Cecil, take a dollar
Come on Cecil, take a tip
Do yourself a favor If she offers it – take it
But honey, don’t give it away if he don’t appreciate it

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

I and Braggar, and Junior Lee,
well that’s the way we always thought it would be
In the Winston lips of September, how we met
Decked out like aces, we’d beat anybody’s bet

Cuz we was Coolsville… cuz we was Coolsville

Well you stick it here;
you stick it over there;
it never fits

And now the hungry night wants more and more
and you’re chippyin’ your little kiss.
I jumped all his jokers,
but he trumped all my tricks

But I swear to God I thought this one was smart enough to stick it into Coolsville…
and stick it into Coolsville…
Ooh, Daddy, stick it into Coolsville

So now it’s J and B, and me,
That sounds close,
but it ain’t the same
but that’s okay
Hot City don’t hurt that much
When everything feels the same
Well the real thing come and the real thing go…
Well the Real Thing is Back in Town…
Ask me if you wanna know The way to Coolsville…
I hear you wanna go back to Coolsville?
Then come on, I’ll take you back… to Coolsville.

Written by Rickie Lee Jones & Alfred Johnson

Sal was working at Nyro’s nook in downtown
Selling articles of congress to these people downtown
He was pretty sleazy when I met him
A weasel in a poor boy’s wool

Sal lives in a black vinyl pen in New Jersey
Buys his meat from a whore next door
Wants it rare but he gets it well
A weasel on a short order floor

So, Sal, say good-bye to your mom and your dad
Sal, say good-bye to the barrio
Sal, say good-bye to your buddies and your pals
Angela, Perry and Mario

Kid Sinister with the Bus Stop Blues
A quarter could take you home
A dime could make a dream come true
But a weasel ain’t got a dime for the phone
( Does a weasel got a dime for the phone? )

So, Sal, say good-bye to your mom and your dad
Sal, say good-bye to the barrio
Sal, say good-bye to your buddies and your pals
Angela, Perry and Mario

You dancin’ in the welfare lines, Sal
Actin’ like some jerk-off fool
When we could lay out eatin’ peaches on the beaches
A weasel in a White Boy’s cool
But we’re all in a white boy’s school
(Just like a weasel )

Written by Rickie Lee Jones and Alfred Johnson

I’ll remember you too clearly
But I’ll survive another day
Conversations to share
When there’s no one there
I’ll imagine what you’d say

I’ll see you in another life now, baby
I’ll free you in my dreams
But when I reach across the galaxy
I will miss your company

Company
I’ll be looking for company
Look and listen
Through the years
Someday you may hear me
Still crying for company

So now you’re going off to live your life
You say we’ll meet each other now and then
But we’ll never be the same
And I know I’ll never have this chance again
No, not like you

So, I’ll see you in another life now baby,
I’ll free you in my dreams
But when I reach across the galaxy
I will miss your company

Company
I’ll be looking for company
Look and listen
Through the years
Someday you may hear me
Still crying for company

Written by Rickie Lee Jones

All the gang has gone home
Standing on the corner
All alone

You and me, streetlight
We’ll paint the town – gray
Oh, we are so many lamps
Who have lost our way

Say goodnight, America
The world still loves a dreamer

And all the gang has gone home
And I’m standing on the corner
All alone