Artist: Warren Zevon Album: Transverse City {1989}

Told my little Pollyanna 
There's a place for you and me 
We'll go down to Transverse City 
Life is cheap and death is free 
Past the condensation silos 
Past the all-night trauma stand 
We'll be there before tomorrow 
Pollyanna take my hand

Show us endless neon vistas
Castles made of laser lights 
Take us to the shopping sector 
In the vortex of the night 
Past the shiny mylar towers
Past the ravaged tenements
To a place we can't remember 
For a time we won't forget

Here's the hum of desperation 
Here's the test tube mating call 
Here's the latest carbon cycle 
Here's the clergy of the mall 
Here's the song of shear and torsion 
Here's the bloodbath magazine 
Here's the harvest of contusions 
Here's the narcoleptic dream

Told my little Pollyanna
Here's a place where we can stay 
We have come to see tomorrow 
We have given up today
Down among the dancing quanta 
Everything exists at once 
Up above in Transverse City
Every weekend lasts for months

Here's the hum of desperation 
Here's the test tube mating call 
Here's the latest carbon cycle 
Here's the clergy of the mall
Here's the witness and the victim 
Here's the relatives' remains 
Here's the well-known double helix 
Here's the poisoned waves of grain 
Here's the song of shear and torsion
Here's the bloodbath magazine 
Here's the harvest of contusions 
Here's the narcoleptic dream 
Here's the hum of desperation

I went walking in the wasted city
Started thinking about entropy 
Smelled the wind from the ruined river 
Went home to watch TV

And it's worse when I try to remember
When I think about then and now 
I'd rather see it on the news at eleven
Sit back and watch it run straight down

Run straight down
Run straight down 
I can see it with my eyes closed 
Run straight down

Run straight down
Run straight down 
I can see it with my eyes closed 
Run straight down

We've been living in the shadows all our lives 
Where it's stand in line and don't look back 
And don't look left and don't look right
So we hide our eyes and wonder who'll survive 
Waiting for the night

Fluorocarbons in the ozone layer 
First the water and the wildlife go 
Pretty soon there's not a creature stirring 
Cept the robots at the dynamo

And it's worse when I try to remember 
When I think about then and now
I'd rather see it on the news at eleven 
Sit back and watch it run straight down

Run straight down 
Run straight down 
I can see it with my eyes closed 
Run straight down

When I was young times were hard 
When I got older it was worse 
First words I ever heard,
"Nobody move, nobody get hurt."

It's the long arm, it's the strong arm 
It's the long arm of the law
It's the long arm, it's the strong arm
It's the long arm of the law

After the war in Paraguay 
Back in 1999
I was laying low in Lima 
Working both sides of the borderline

It's the long arm, it's the strong arm 
It's the long arm of the law
It's the long arm, it's the strong arm
It's the long arm of the law
It's the long arm, it's the strong arm 
It's the long arm of the law
It's the long arm, it's the strong arm
It's the long arm of the law
You can run, but you can't hide

Well I have to live like a fugitive 
Oh yeah, oh yeah 
Someone's coming after me 
And I'm running, running, yeah

Now, don't protest your innocence 
Only the dead get off scot free 
And when the judge says, "Whodunit?" 
You'll be crying, "Not me, not me!" 

Turmoil back in Moscow brought this turbulence down on me
Turmoil back in Moscow brought this turbulence down on me

Well you can talk about your perestroika 
And that's all right for you 
But Comrade Schevardnadze, tell me
What's a poor boy like me to do

Turmoil back in Moscow brought this turbulence down on me 
Turmoil back in Moscow brought this turbulence down on me

We've been fightin' with the Mujahaddin
Down in Afghanistan
Comrade Gorbachev, can I 
Go back to Vladivostok, man

Turmoil back in Moscow brought this turbulence down on me
Turmoil back in Moscow brought this turbulence down on me

Turmoil back in Moscow brought this turbulence down on me
Turmoil back in Moscow brought this turbulence down on me

{Russian Lyrics}

Turmoil back in Moscow, hey
Turbulence down on me
Turmoil back in Moscow, hey
Turbulence down on me
Turmoil back in Moscow, hey
Turbulence down on me
Turmoil back in Moscow, hey
Turbulence down on me

Turmoil back in Moscow brought this turbulence down on me
Turmoil back in Moscow brought this turbulence down on me
Turmoil back in Moscow brought this turbulence down on me
Turmoil back in Moscow brought this turbulence down on me

I was counting on you
To stand by me
To see me through 
I was counting on you
They moved the moon 
While I looked down 
When I looked away
They changed the stars around

I'm so confused 
Don't know what to do 
Don't know which way to turn
I was counting on you
They moved the moon
While I looked down 
When I looked away 
They changed the stars around

Can't you see me
Can't you hear me now
Don't you know me anymore
Don't you want a love that's true
Don't you know my heart belongs to you

I was counting on you 
To stand by me 
To see me through 
I was counting on you
They moved the moon 
While I looked down 
When I looked away 
They changed the stars around

They moved the moon 
I feel so strange 
While I looked down
Everything I depended on
When I looked away 
Has been rearranged
They changed the stars around

I was counting on you
They moved the moon 
I feel so strange 
While I looked down
Everything I depended on
When I looked away 
Has been rearranged
They changed the stars around

I was counting on you
They moved the moon 
I feel so strange 
While I looked down
Everything I depended on
When I looked away 
Has been rearranged
They changed the stars around

I want to live all alone in the desert 
I want to be like Georgia O'Keefe 
I want to live on the Upper East Side 
And never go down in the street
Splendid isolation
I don't need no one 
Splendid isolation

Michael Jackson in Disneyland 
Don't have to share it with nobody else 
Lock the gates, Goofy, take my hand 
And lead me through the world of self
Splendid isolation 
I don't need no one
Splendid isolation

Don't want to wake up with no one beside me 
Don't want to take up with nobody new
Don't want nobody coming by without calling first 
Don't want nothing to do with you

I'm putting tinfoil up on the windows 
Lying down in the dark to dream 
I don't want to see their faces
I don't want to hear them scream
Splendid isolation 
I don't need no one
Splendid isolation

Splendid isolation 
I don't need no one
Splendid isolation

There's a way to live that's right for us
Like Mayans in Manhattan and Los Angeles 
I'm scaling up, I'm breaking down 
And I'm doing lunch all over town

Networking, I'm user friendly 
Networking, I install with ease 
Data processed, truly basic
I will upload you, you can download me

It's a long hard road and a full hard drive 
And a sector there where I feel alive
Every bit of every byte 
Is written down once on the night

Networking, I'm user friendly 
Networking, I install with ease
Data processed, truly basic 
I will upload you, you can download me

There's a prayer each night that I always pray 
Let the data guide me through every day
And every pulse and every code
Deliver me from the bypass mode

Networking, I'm user friendly 
Networking, I install with ease 
Data processed, truly basic
I will upload you, you can download me
Networking, I'm user friendly 
Networking, I install with ease 
Data processed, truly basic
I will upload you, you can download me

It's 5:00 PM on a weekday, friend 
There's one of me and two million of them 
The whistle blows and the factories close 
There's a million more commuters on the access roads
The brake lights flash, there's an RV crashed 
I'm in the passing lane going nowhere fast 
The traffic crawls and the engine stalls
I'm stuck on the edge of the urban sprawl

Gridlock up ahead 
There's a line of cars as far as I can see 
Gridlock - goin' nowhere
Roll down the window, let me scream

Oh yeah, ain't it a shame 
We're all jammed up at the interchange
The paramedics and the CHP 
Wait impatiently for catastrophes 
I'm spending half my days like this
I might as well be working on the midnight shift
The radio's tuned to the traffic news
And everybody's choking on monoxide fumes

Gridlock up ahead 
There's a line of cars as far as I can see 
Gridlock - goin' nowhere
Roll down the window, let me scream
I can close my eyes and dream 
I can close my eyes and dream 
I can close my eyes and dream

It's 5:00 PM on a weekday, friend 
I'm going home but I don't know when
I hate this traffic and I hate this town 
Gotta honk my horn, try to get around 
I feel like going on a killing spree
Tomorrow I'm going on the RTD 
The traffic crawls and the engine stalls 
I'm stuck on the edge of the urban sprawl

Gridlock up ahead 
There's a line of cars as far as I can see 
Gridlock - goin' nowhere
Roll down the window, let me scream
Hey, hey, let's get movin'
Hey, hey, let's get movin'
Hey, hey, let's get movin'
Hey, hey, let's get movin'
Hey, hey 
Hey, hey
Hey, hey  
Hey, hey

There's a brand new shopping center seven storys high
There's bound to be a sale or two, there's something we can buy
There's four floors of parking and we're sure to find a space
We'll spend all the money that the government doesn't take

Going down in the mall
I'll be your man
We'll go shopping, babe,
It's something we can stand
Down in the mall
We will abide
Up on the escalator
Darling, we will ride

Shopping for a pair of shoes, shopping for a hat
We're buying some of this and we're buying some of that
We'll shop up a storm til we can't shop no more
And then we're stopping off at the video store

Down in the mall
I'll be your man
We'll go shopping, babe,
It's something we can stand
Down in the mall
We'll be allright
Monday through Saturday
Til nine o'clock at night

Buying CDs and we're buying lingerie
We'll put it on a charge account, we're never gonna pay
Department store, camera store, tobacco store, appliance store
You buy everything you want and then you want more

Down in the mall
I'll be your man
We'll go shopping, babe,
It's something we can stand
Down in the mall
We will abide
Up on the escalator
Darling, we will ride
Down in the mall 
Down in the mall 
Down in the mall 
Down in the mall 

We keep walking away for no reason at all 
And no one says a word 
We were always so busy protecting ourselves 
We never would have heard 
The rate of attrition for lovers like us 
Is steadily on the rise 
Nobody's in love this year 
Not even you and I

Due to lack of commitment on both of our parts
We're going our separate ways 
This show of indifference is breaking our hearts
It's making us crazy, yeah 
You sit back and wait for your love to accrue 
You'll be waiting a long, long time 
Nobody's in love this year 
Not even you and I

I don't want to be Mr. Vulnerable 
I don't want to get hurt
I don't want to be Mr. Vulnerable 
I don't want to be the one who gets left behind

We keep walking away for no reason at all 
For the sake of being free
No one's invested enough of themselves 
To yield to maturity 
And the rate of attrition for lovers like us 
Is steadily on the rise
Nobody's in love this year
Nobody wants to try 
Nobody's in love this year
Not even you and I

I don't want to be Mr. Vulnerable 
I don't want to get hurt 
I don't want to be Mr. Vulnerable 
I don't want to be the one who gets left behind 

I don't want to get hurt 
I don't want to be Mr. Vulnerable 
I don't want to be the one who gets left behind