Lyrics When I Paint My Masterpiece - Steve Harley

Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble
Ancient footprints are everywhere
You can almost think that you're seein' double
On a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs

Got to hurry on back to my hotel room
Where I've got me a date with Botticelli's niece
She promised she'd be right there with me
When I paint my masterpiece

Oh, the hours I've spent inside the Coliseum
Dodging lions and wastin' time
Oh, those mighty kings of thе jungle, I could hardly stand to see 'em
Yes, it surе has been a long, hard climb

Train wheels runnin' through the back of my memory
When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of wild geese
Someday, everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody
When I paint my masterpiece

Sailin' 'round the world in a dirty gondola
Oh to be back in the land of the big High Roller

I left Rome, and landed in Brussels
On a plane ride so bumpy that I almost cried
Clergymen in uniform and young girls pulling muscles
Everyone was there to greet me when I stepped inside
Newspapermen eating candy
Had to be held down by big police
Someday, everything is gonna be different
When I write my masterpiece