Lyrics Barefoot In New York - Arthur Russell

I really wanted to stay awake
(He wanted to) I was trying to stay awake
(He was trying to stay awake)
And it was about 7:00 on Sunday morning
I'd been up all night and I knew I
Had to finish my work (He knew he had to)
I knew I had to
As I looked out the window
It was bright sunlight
On the orange bricks of the next building
Very bright sight somehow reflecting
And through the window
If I was able to understand
I guess why I (He couldn't understand) couldn't stay awake
It was not conscious
Before I'd realized I couldn't stay awake anymore
But now it's even worse than before

I was listening to a tape of a lecture on
(He was listening to a tape)
Buddhism at which I was present
I (He was at the lecture) heard myself
Asking a lot of stupid questions
(He was asking a lot of stupid questions)
I was thickheaded at the lecture
Sitting there on the floor
But to hear it all now, it's even worse than before

Those shoes I had were some name
That I can't remember (He can't remember the name)
I found them in a wastebasket about to be emptied
They're mostly the only shoes I wear
When I found them, they had been worn
The bottoms were worn off
Worn off on the edges
But they were mostly in good shape (Really great shape)
When I found out they fit me, I was very happy
But there was something about them that
Sticks to the floor when I walk
(They stick to the floor when he walks)
It makes a noise
I kept wearing them
They got, got wet many times, and now the stitches
That hold them together on the sides is coming apart
(Shoes are coming apart) everywhere
And you can see my colored socks in the hole where they come apart
But they stick to the floor when I walk still
(They stick to the floor and they're coming apart) Very noticeable
I stepped in some sticky stuff that spilled by the door
Since then, it's even worse than before

On Broadway one night
There was this fairly high pitched, loud, loud tone
That sounded like (It sounded like) a siren
People were looking around to see
Where it came from
The food store on the corner provided a lot of the light
Because it was open (Because it was open)
Pretty soon I realized that the sound was coming from
(He realized the sound was coming from the hood of this one car)
The hood of this one car that was parked on the street nearby
Yet was empty and locked (And locked)
As you walked toward it
And became even louder
I first noticed the sound when I walked past the store
But now it's even worse than before

I really wanted to show somehow how things deteriorate
Or how one bad thing (Bad thing, bad thing)
Leads to another
At first, there were plenty of things to point to
Lots of people, places, things, ideas
(People, places, things, ideas)
Turning to shit everywhere (Everywhere)
I could describe these instances
But the more I thought about them
(The more he thought about them)
The less they seemed to be negative things
But appeared as the seeds of something completely new and productive
And (And) I couldn't talk about them in the same way
But I knew it was true that there really are
Dangerous crises
Occurring in many different places
But I was blind to them then
Once it was easy to find something to deplore
But now it's even worse than before

The question is whether or not
This kind of music is going to hypnotize you
Do you resent being made to listen to
This monotonous music
Or having to listen to
Such boring sentences?
Friends have said that by producing this kind of music (This kind)
People are put to sleep
In fact, I've always thought this
(He always thought this too) too
I've always disliked the Rolling Stones
Since I found out what they were up to
(He found out what they were up to)
So when the prospect of doing this very hypnotic music came to my mind
I realized that I should at least bring up the problems of
Listening to this kind of rhythm
That its regularity may temporarily take your mind off
The more important tasks we have
I had to decide if it was in our best
(He had to decide)
Interest to present this
But now that I went ahead and did it after asking what it was for
Now, it's even worse than before.