Billy Joel Album

Bobby's driving through the city tonight
Through the lights in a hot new rent-a-car
He joins the lovers in his heavy machine
It's a scene down on Sunset Boulevard

Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Say Goodbye to my baby
Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Say Goodbye to my baby

Johnny's taking care of things for a while
And his style is so right for troubadours
They got him sitting with his back to the door
Now he won't be my fast gun anymore

Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Say Goodbye to my baby
Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Say Goodbye to my baby

Moving on is a chance that you take
Anytime you try to stay together
Whoa
Say a word out of line
And you'll find out that the friends that you had
Are gone forever
Forever
So many faces in and out of my life
Some will last
Some will just be now and then
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes
I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again

Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Say Goodbye to my baby
Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Say Goodbye to my baby

Moving on is a chance that you take
Anytime you try to stay together
Whoa
Say a word out of line
And you'll find out that the friends that you had
Are gone forever
Forever
So many faces in and out of my life
Some will last
Some will just be now and then
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes
I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again

Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Say Goodbye to my baby
Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Say Goodbye to my baby

They say that these are not the best of times
But they’re the only times I’ve ever known
And I believe there is a time for meditation
In cathedrals of our own
Now I have seen that sad surrender in my lover’s eyes
And I can only stand apart and sympathize

For we are always what our situations hand us
It’s either sadness or euphoria

So we’ll argue and we’ll compromise
And realize that nothing’s ever changed
For all our mutual experience
Our separate conclusions are the same
Now we are forced to recognize our inhumanity
A reason coexists with our insanity

And though we choose between reality and madness
It’s either sadness or euphoria

How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies
Perhaps we don’t fulfill each other’s fantasies
And as we stand upon the ledges of our lives
With our respective similarities

It’s either sadness or euphoria

Oh…!

Oh baby, you don't get turned on by the radio.
Oh baby, you got nothing to play on your stereo.
"Why don't the Beatles get back together?"
"Why don't nobody sing of romance?"
Oh baby, all you wanna do is dance.

Oh baby, I think you are lost in the seventies.
Oh baby, "The music she ain't what she used to be."
You don't understand what they're saying,
You've given it every chance
Oh baby, all you wanna do is dance.

Well you wish you were back in the good old days,
When tomatoes were cheaper,
and you never heard the words of your favorite songs
Through a three inch speaker.
And you never messed around with dangerous drugs,
You were all getting sick on beer
And you didn't get any (unless you went steady and made out for a year).

Well you can hide away honey, in your rock and roll dreams,
You can stand by your blue suede shoes
But the party is over,
And I'm getting tired of waiting for you.

Oh baby, "Where are the oldies they used to play?"
Oh baby, you want to crawl back into yesterday,
You don't want to deal with the future,
You don't want to make any plans
Oh baby, all you wanna do is dance.

Some folks like to get away
Take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to Miami Beach
Or to Hollywood
But I'm taking a Greyhound
On the Hudson River Line
I'm in a New York state of mind

I've seen all the movie stars
In their fancy cars and their limousines
Been high in the Rockies under the evergreens
But I know what I'm needing
And I don't want to waste more time
I'm in a New York state of mind

It was so easy living day by day
Out of touch with the rhythm and blues
But now I need a little give and take
The New York Times, The Daily News

It comes down to reality
And it's fine with me 'cause I've let it slide
Don't care if it's Chinatown or on Riverside
I don't have any reasons
I've left them all behind
I'm in a New York state of mind

It was so easy living day by day
Out of touch with the rhythm and blues
But now I need a little give and take
The New York Times, The Daily News

It comes down to reality
And it's fine with me 'cause I've let it slide
Don't care if it's Chinatown or on Riverside
I don't have any reasons
I've left them all behind
I'm in a New York state of mind

I'm just taking a Greyhound on the Hudson River Line
'Cause I'm in a New York state of mind

James... we were always friends,
From our childhood days
And we made our plans,
And we had to go our seperate ways.
I went on the road
You pursued an education.

James... do you like your life,
Can you find release,
And will you ever change
Will you ever write your masterpiece.
Are you still in school
Living up to expectations... James...

You were so relied upon, everybody knows how hard you tried
Hey... just look at what a job you've done,
Carrying the weight of family pride.
James... you've been well behaved,
You've been working so hard
But will you always stay
Someone else's dream of who you are.
Do what's good for you, or you're not good for anybody... James.

I went on the road
You pursued an education... James...
How you gonna know for sure-everything was so well organized.
Hey...now everything is so secure,
and everybody else is satisfied.

James... do you like your life,
Can you find release
And will you ever change,
When will you write your masterpiece.
Do what's good for you, or you're not good for anybody... James...

There's a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend he refuses to crawl
And he's always at home with his back to the wall
And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost
And struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross
And likes to be known as the angry young man

Give a moment or two to the angry young man
With his foot in his mouth and his heart in his hand
He's been stabbed in the back he's been misunderstood
It's a comfort to know his intentions are good
And he sits in his room with a lock on the door
With his maps and his medals laid out on the floor
And he likes to be known as the angry young man

I believe I've passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage
I found that just surviving was a noble fight
I once believed in causes too
I had my pointless point of view
And life went on no matter who was wrong or right

And there's always a place for the angry young man
With his fist in the air and his head in the sand
And he's never been able to learn from mistakes
So he can't understand why his heart always breaks
And his honor is pure and his courage is well
And he's fair and he's true and he's boring as hell
And he'll go to the grave as an angry old man

Yes there's always a place for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend he refuses to crawl
And he's always at home with his back to the wall
And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost
And struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross
And likes to be known as the angry young man

Now we take our time, so nonchalant,
And spend our nights so bon vivant.
We dress our days in silken robes,
The money comes, the money goes,
We know it's all a passing phase.

We light our lamps for atmosphere,
And hang our hopes on chandeliers.
We're going wrong, we're gaining weight,
We're sleeping long and far too late.
And so it's time to change our ways...
But I've loved these days.

Now as we indulge in things refined,
We hide our hearts from harder times.
A string of pearls, a foreign car,
Oh, we can only go so far
On caviar and Cabernet.

We drown our doubts in dry champagne,
And soothe our souls with fine cocaine.
I don't know why I even care,
We get so high and get nowhere.
We'll have to change our jaded ways...
But I've loved these days.

So before we end, and then begin,
We'll drink a toast to how it's been-
A few more hours to be complete,
A few more nights on satin sheets,
A few more times that I can say...
I've loved these days.

I seen the lights go out on Broadway.
I saw the Empire State laid low.
And life went on beyond the Palisades.
They all bought Cadillacs and left there long ago.
They held a concert out in Brooklyn
To watch the island bridges blow.
They turned our power down,
And drove us underground,
But we went right on with the show.
Oooh. Oh Oh Ooh.

I seen the lights go out on Broadway.
I saw the ruins at my feet.
You know we almost didn't notice it.
We'd see it all the time on 42nd Street.
They burned the churches up in Harlem,
Like in that Spanish Civil War.
The flames were everywhere,
But no one really cared:
It always burned up there before.
Ooh. Oh Oh Ooh.

I seen the lights go out on Broadway.
I watched the mighty skyline fall.
The boats were waiting at the Battery.
The union went on strike:
They never sailed at all.
They sent the carrier out from Norfolk,
And picked the Yankees up for free.
They said that Queens could stay.
They blew the Bronx away,
And sank Manhattan out at sea.

You know those lights were bright on Broadway,
But that was so many years ago:
Before we all lived here in Florida,
Before the Mafia took over Mexico.
There are not many who remember;
They say a handful still survive
To tell the world about
The way the lights went out,
And keep the memory alive.