Famous Blue Raincoat

It's four in the morning, the end of December

I'm writing you now just to see if you're better

New York is cold, but I like where I'm living

There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening

I hear that you're building your house deep in the desert

Are you living for nothing now?

Hope you're keeping some kind of record

Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair

She said that you gave it to her

That night when you planned to go clear

Did you ever go clear?

Ah, the last time we saw ya, you looked so much older

Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder

You'd been to the station to meet every train

But she never turned up, I mean Lilly Marlene

So you treated some woman to a flake of your life

And when she got home she was nobody's wife

Well, I see you there with a rose in your teeth

One more thin gypsy thief

Well, I see Jane's awake

She sends her regards

And what can I tell you? Oh, what can I tell you?

What can I possibly say?

I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you

I'm glad that you stood in my way

And if you ever come by here, be it for Jane or for me

I want you to know your enemy's sleeping

I want you to know your woman is free

Yes, and thanks for the trouble you took from her eyes

I thought it was there for good, so I never really tried

And Jane came by with a lock of your hair

She said that you gave it to her

That night when you planned to go clear

Sincerely, a friend