In America

(from the CD Songs from the Bright Side)

Tote that barge and lift that bail
Like the old song says
Get a little drunk and you land in jail
Like the old song says
It's the same old song
It's the same old melody
It's the same old story
It's got a strangle hold on me.

Bleeding to death in America
The vision of the gold mine
Drives me on
I'm going to buy every woman in America
I'll put a million dollar
Diamond ring on everyone.

I made the beds for Leona Helmsley
In a big hotel
The memory of it overwhelms me
And my wallet as well
I used to see the guests arrive
But I never saw them leave
Those ten-cent tips
Have got a strangle hold on me.

I built a boat for John Paul Getty
Then I scrubbed the decks
Every night I swept the jetty
And Johnny signed the cheques
Just another million more
And I'll be finally free
These Yankee dollars
Have a strangle hold on me.

Say can you see by the dawns early light
What so proudly we saw in the twilights last gleaming?

I was a gofer for Estee Lauder
And I watered the lawn
I cut the roses around the border
Every day at dawn
Every time EL came around
I hid behind a tree
Her perfumed fortune
Has a strangle hold on me.