Romeo Had Juliette (Live at Warner Theatre, Washington, DC, 3/14/1989)

Hello, hello up there

Nice to see you all

Good to see you

I think we're gonna spend some time together tonight

I just wanna tell you how this is gonna work

We're gonna do the my new album, the "New York" album, from beginning to end

Oh, good, good

And then we'll take a little break and come back and play some older thing for you

And this is called "Romeo Had Juliette"

One, two, three, four

Caught between the twisted stars, the plotted lines, the faulty map

That brought Columbus to New York

Betwixt between the East and West, he comes to her wearing a leather vest

The earth squeals and shudders to a halt

A diamond crucifix in his ear is used to help ward off the fear

That he has lost his soul in someone's rented car

Inside his pants, he hides a mop to clean the mess that he has dropped

Into the life of lithesome Juliette Bell

And Romeo wanted Juliette

And Juliette wanted her Romeo

And Romeo wanted Juliette

And Juliette wanted her Romeo

Romeo Rodriguez squares his shoulders and curses Jesus

Runs his hand through his black pony-tail

He's looking 'round his dirty room, the sink nearby the bed gives off a stink

Then he smells her perfume in his eye, voice's like a bell

Outside the streets are steaming, the crack dealers are dreaming

Of an Uzi, someone had just scored

I betcha I could hit that light with my one good arm behind my back

Says little Joey Diaz

Hey, brother, give me another tote, you know those downtown hoods are no damn good

Those Italians need a lesson to be taught

That cop who died in Harlem, I hope he got the warnin'

I was laughing when his brains run in the street

And Romeo wanted Juliette

And Juliette wanted her Romeo

And Romeo wanted Juliette

And Juliette wanted her Romeo

I'll take Manhattan in a garbage bag with Latin written on it, that says

"It's hard to give a shit these days"

Manhattan's sinking like a rock, into the filthy Hudson, what a shock

They wrote a book about it, they said it's like ancient Rome

The perfume burned his eye

Holding gently to his thighs

And something flickered for a minute

Then it vanished and was gone