Down & Out In Phoenix

words & music JP Den Tex

I reached Phoenix on a Greyhound bus

I’d dumped the damned Toyota

My mind was tugging at the reins

My heart a lone coyote

Night was falling as I walked

Towards the Western Plaza

Inside a TV set was on

Some kidnapping in Gaza 

Tom Petty ‘d won a Grammy – 

Thanked his wife – and his Heartbreakers

Visa ‘d blocked my credit card

The Suns just beat the Lakers

As I still had some cash to burn

I paid them for two nights

Went to my room and fell asleep 

That’s when I saw the lights…

Down & out in Phoenix

Steep and sudden fall from grace

A desert strewn with broken dreams

A future with no face

Then suddenly this carrousel

Some wondrous magic scene

It spins you round and lifts you up

Among stars you’ve never seen

The future’s dim, the past looks pale

Beyond its weary throne…

The present holds the biggest hall

You feel you’re not alone

You go ahead and enter

She’s already by your side

The lights are unforgettable

So colorful, so bright

And in your ears that chant of love

“Come closer, don’t be shy… “

There, on a silver platter lies

The stone that makes us cry

Down & out in Phoenix

Steep and sudden fall from grace

A desert strewn with broken dreams

A future with no face

Down & out

Down & out in Phoenix