In Brooklyn

'Oh I come from Pittsburgh to study astrology'

She said as she stepped on my instep

'I could show you New York with a walk between Fourth Street and Nine'

Then out of her coat taking seven harmonicas

She sat down to play on a doorstep

Saying 'Come back to my place I will show you the stars and the signs'

So I followed her into the black lands

Where the window frames peel and flake

And the old Jewish face behind the lace

Even now trying to get to see what's cooking

Just John the Baptist in the park getting laid thinking there's no-one looking

And its eighty degrees and I'm down on my knees in Brooklyn

Her house was a dusty collection of rusty

Confusion with landings and tunnels

And leaning bookcases and spaces and faces and things

Where twenty-five Puerto Ricans, Manhattan Mohicans

And Jewish-Italian Pawnbrokers

Lead their theatrical lives in their rooms in the wings

While outside in the black lands

The violent day runs wild

And the black and white minstrels run through the crazy

Alleys while the cops go booking

And ruthless toothless agents sneak around and there's no-one looking

And it's eighty degrees and I'm down on my knees in Brooklyn

And oh, I'm back in the city again

You can tell by the smell of the hamburger stand in the rain

She spoke of astrology while muttering apologies

For coffee that tasted of hot dogs

I said 'That's OK, mine was cold anyway, and just grand'

Then she lay on the bed while the radio fed

Us with records and adverts for cat food

And I looked at her, holding my thoughts in the palm of my hand

And outside in the black lands

The evening came and went

And the bums in the street begging money for one last drink

Are hanging round the liquor stores trying to get a foot in

And the girl from Pittsburgh and I made love on a mattress with the new moon looking

And in the cool evening breeze I was down on my knees in Brooklyn