Song For Sharon Lyrics - Hejira - Joni Mitchell

I went to staten island. 

to buy myself a mandolin 

and i saw the long white dress of love 

on a storefront mannequin 

big boat chuggin' back with a belly full of cars... 

all for something lacy 

some girl's going to see that dress 

and crave that day like crazy 

Little indian kids on a bridge up in canada 

they can balance and they can climb 

like their fathers before them 

they'll walk the girders of the manhattan skyline 

shine your light on me miss liberty 

because as soon as this ferry boat docks 

i'm headed to the church 

to play bingo 

fleece me with the gamblers' flocks 

I can keep my cool at poker 

but i'm a fool when love's at stake 

because i can't conceal emotion 

what i'm feeling's always written on my face 

there's a gypsy down on bleecker street 

i went in to see her as a kind of joke 

and she lit a candle for my love luck 

and eighteen bucks went up in smoke 

Sharon, i left my man 

at a north dakota junction 

and i came out to the "big apple" here 

to face the dream's malfunction 

love's a repetitious danger 

you'd think i'd be accustomed to 

well, i do accept the changes 

at least better than i used to do 

A woman i knew just drowned herself 

the well was deep and muddy 

she was just shaking off futility 

or punishing somebody 

my friends were calling up all day yesterday 

all emotions and abstractions 

it seems we all live so close to that line 

and so far from satisfaction 

Dora says, "have children!" 

mama and betsy say-"find yourself a charity." 

help the needy and the crippled or put some time into ecology." 

well, there's a wide wide world of noble causes 

and lovely landscapes to discover 

but all i really want right now 

is... find another lover 

When we were kids in maidstone, sharon 

i went to every wedding in that little town 

to see the tears and the kisses 

and the pretty lady in the white lace wedding gown 

and walking home on the railroad tracks 

or swinging on the playground swing 

love stimulated my illusions 

more than anything 

And when i went skating after golden reggie 

you know it was white lace i was chasing 

chasing dreams 

mama's nylons underneath my cowgirl jeans 

he showed me first you get the kisses 

and then you get the tears 

but the ceremony of the bells and lace 

still veils this reckless fool here 

Now there are 29 skaters on wolmann rink 

circling in singles and in pairs 

in this vigorous anonymity 

a blank face at the window stares and stares and stares and stares 

and the power of reason 

and the flowers of deep feeling 

seem to serve me 

only to deceive me 

Sharon you've got a husband 

and a family and a farm 

i've got the apple of temptation 

and a diamond snake around my arm 

but you still have your music 

and i've still got my eyes on the land and the sky 

you sing for your friends and your family 

i'll walk green pastures by and by 

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