A Song to Pass the Time

There's a middle-aged woman
She's dragging her feet
She carries baskets of clothes to a laundromat
While the Mexican children
Kick rocks into the street
And they laugh in a language I don't understand
But I love them
Why do I love them?

So the neighborhood's dimming
I smoke on the porch,
Watch the people as they pass enclosed inside their cars
On their faces just anger or disappointment
I start wishing there was something I could offer them
Consolation, what could I offer them?

And they are sad in their suburbs
Robots water the lawn
And everything they touch gets dusted spotless
And so they start to believe
They've not touched anything at all
And the cars in the driveway only multiply

Well, they are lost in their houses
I've heard them sing in the showers
Making speeches to their sister on the telephone
Saying, "You come home, woman, you come here,
Don't stay so far away from me."
This weather has me wanting love more tangible
Something I can hold
'Cause it's getting cold

Well I say, hold up our fists to the flame in the sky
To block out the light that's reaching for our eyes
'Cause it, 'cause it would blind us.
Yeah, it will blind us

Well, I've locked my actions
In the grooves of routine
So I may never be free of this apathy
But I wait for a letter that's coming to me
She sends me pictures of the ocean in an envelope

So there still is hope
Yes, I can be healed
There is someone looking for what I've concealed
In my secret drawer
In my pockets deep
You will find the reasons that I can't sleep
And you will still want me
But will you still want me?
Will you still want me?

Well I said, "Come for the week,
You can sleep in my bed
And pass through my life
Like a dream through my head
It will, it will be easy
I'll make it easy."

But, all I have for the moment is a song to pass the time
And a melody to keep me from worrying
Some simple progression to keep my fingers busy,
And words that are sure to come back to me
And they'll be laughing
And they'll be laughing
My mediocrity, my mediocrity
Yeah, they'll be laughing
Yeah, they'll be laughing
They will be laughing