Lead Paint & Salt Air

One, two, three

One, two, three

Down in Asbury Park

In a sublet I'm renting

I got a new job

Where I'm out painting houses

The sun on my neck and some cash in my pocket

At least there's fresh air here

I watch families stroll by with their kids on vacation

Scrape decades of lead paint and salt air off porches

Alone with my thoughts

And a breeze off the ocean

And I smile for the first time this year

I walk alone

In the mist of the evening

Under the glow of the Paramount sign

I watch the sky turn violet with light

On the fourth of July

I've been spending my nights in a dive off the boardwalk

A sad open mic

I've been playing these damn songs

They yell out for Springsteen, or Dylan, or Mitchell

But these, these are all that I've got

I walk alone

In the mist of the evening

Under the glow of the Paramount sign

I watch the sky turn violet with light

On the fourth of July

I've picked up smoking again

'Cause I like how it makes all the days go by fast

Picked up smoking again

'Cause something's gonna kill me some day

So why not that?

I'm smoking again

'Cause I like it

Why can't I just like it?

I'm smoking again

I walk alone

In the mist of the evening

Under the glow of the Paramount sign

I watch the sky turn violet with light

On the fourth of July