Down, Down, Stream

Bought a house from a man in New York This house had 4 small apartments in it when he bought it in 78 Said he had seen children grow old and elder people dying in each little apartment Said he didn't change the wooden floors for sixteen years 'cause he knew where each scuff came from We talked for a bit and he took me around the corner and told me everything had gone down, down stream from him Like that cold water of his life had gone up his back, down his front, and around his legs And before he could drink any of it, it'd already passed him by

I went home after drinkin' with him a bit, made a pallet and a fire on the floor And closed my eyes right there in the middle of one of the coldest nights Manhattan had seen all winter I imagined my dog Jack and me back home, cuttin' through some Oklahoman landscape With greens, moisture, and heat and finding some stream runnin' right there in the clearin' He jumped, chasin' something naturally, and I just let that water run past my shoulders under my neck and down to my feet And down, down stream

Every good and bad thing that ever happened to me floating down, down stream They're just floatin', the Tulsa bars and all the throw up in 'em, the ducks we killed, the fights we had The New York 3 a.ms, the piano through my neighbors wall, and the Italian restaurant voices mashin' together through the opposite one My mother's couch that I sang her songs on The African desert heat, runnin' from the police in school, and my father's solemn pride

They're just floatin' by, every woman I had ever loved and every man I have ever called a brother The New Year's fireworks and the July 4th's too, every failure and every ugly, little victory Screamin' off the Grand Canyon and hearin' one of my best friends had gotten into a wreck under some cold, dark western sky My sister laughin', the streets of London, and my band playin' sweet notes and a hundred thousand people

I took a big gulp and I wondered if all that water led to more streams and those led to some big ocean somewhere Prayed all that suffering and all those belly laughs led to some big ocean somewhere As soon as I took that big gulp, my eyes opened to a fire in that livin' room and the fire Living room and the fire department came and hydrant filthy New And the fire department came and hydrant filthy New York water was goin' up my back, down my front and down, down stream And so are we