I went to Staten Island, Sharon
To buy myself a mandolin
And I saw the long white dress of love
On a storefront mannequin
Big boat chuggin' back with a belly full of cars
All for something lacy
Some girl's going to see that dress
And crave that day like crazy
Dm7 Dm7 Dm7 D
Little Indian kids on a bridge up in Canada
They can balance and they can climb
Like their fathers be fore them
They'll walk the girders of the Manhattan skyline
Shine your light on me Miss Liberty
Because as soon as this ferry boat docks
I'm headed to the church
To play Bingo
Fleece me with the gamblers' flocks
Dm7 Dm7 Dm7 D
I can keep my cool at poker
But I'm a foo ooll when love's at stake
Because I can't conceal e motion
What I'm feeling's always written on my face
There's a gypsy down on Bleecker Street
I went in to see her as a kind of joke
And she lit a candle for my love luck
And eighteen bucks went up in smoke
Dm7 Dm7 Dm7 D
Sharon, I left my man
At a North Da kota junction
And I came out to the "Big Apple" here
To face the dream's malfunction
Love's a repe titious danger
You'd think I'd be accus tomed to
Well, I do accept the changes
At least better than I used to do
Dm7 Dm7 Dm7 D
A woman I knew just drowned herself
The well was deep and muddy
She was just shaking off futility
Or pu nishing somebody
My friends were calling up all day yesterday
All emotions and abstractions
It seems we all live so close to that line
And so far from satisfaction
Dm7 Dm7 Dm7 D
Dora says, "Have children!"
Mama and Betsy say, "Find yourself a charity."
Help the needy and the crippled or put some time into ecolo gy."
Well, there's a wide wide world of noble causes
And lovely land scapes to discover
But all I really wanna do right now
Is find ano ther lover
Dm7 Dm7 Dm7 D
When we were kids in Maidstone, Sharon
I went to every wedding in that little town
To see the tears and the kisses
And the pretty lady in the white lace wedding gown
And walking home on the railroad tracks
Or swinging on the playground swing
Lo-o-ove stimulated my il lusions
More than anything
And when I went skating after Golden Reggie
You know it was white lace I was chasing
Chasing dreams
Mama's nylons underneath my cowgirl jeans
He showed me first you get the kisses
And then you get the tears
But the ceremony of the bells and lace
Still veils this reckless fool here
Dm7 Dm7 Dm7 D
Now there are twenty-nine skaters on Wollman Rink
Circling in singles and in pairs
In this vigorous anonymity
A blank face at the window stares and
stares and stares and stares and stares
And the power of reason
And the flowers of deep feel ings
Seem to serve me
Only to deceive me
Dm7 Dm7 Dm7 D
Sharon you've got a husband
And a family and a farm
I've got the apple of temp tation
And a diamond snake around my arm
But you still have your music
And I've still got my eyes on the land and the sky
You sing for your friends and your family
I'll walk green pas tures by and by
Dm7 Dm7 Dm7 D