Down, Down, Stream

Bought a house from a man in New York
This house had four small apartments in it
When he got it in '78
Said he had seen children grow old
And elderly people die in each little apartment
Said he didn't change the wooden floors for sixteen years
'Cause he knew where the scuff came from
We talked for a bit and he took me around the corner
And told me everything had gone down, down stream from him
Like that cold water of his life had gone up his back
Down his front, and around his legs
And before he could drink any of it
It'd already passed him by
I went home after drinkin' with him a bit
Made a pallet and a fire on the floor
And closed my eyes right there
In the middle of one of the coldest nights
Manhattan had seen all winter
I imagined my dog Jack and me back home
Cuttin' through some Oklahoman landscape
With greens, moisture, and heat and finding some screen
Right there in the clearin'
He jumped, chasin' something naturally
And I just let that water run past my shoulders
Under my neck and under my feet
And down, down stream
Every good and bad thing that ever happend to me
Floating down, down stream
They're just floatin', the Tulsa bars
And all the throw up in 'em, the ducks we killed
The fights we had
The New York 3ams, the piano through my neighbors wall
And the Italian restaurant voices mashin' together
Through the opposite one
My mother's couch that I sang her songs on
The African desert heat, runnin' from the police
And my father's swollen pride
They're just floatin' by, every woman I have ever loved
And every man I have ever called a brother
The New Year's fireworks and the July Fourth's too
Every failure and every ugly, little victory
Screamin' off the Grand Canyon
And hearin' one of my best friends
Have gotten into a wreck under some cold, dark western sky
My sister laughin', the streets of London
And my band playin' sweet notes
In front of a hundred thousand people
I took a big gulp and I wondered if all that water
Led to more streams and those led
To some big ocean somewhere
Prayed all that suffering and all those belly laughs
Led to some big ocean somewhere
As soon as I took that big gulp
My eyes opened to a fire in that livin' room
And the fire department came
And hydrant filthy New York water
Was goin' up my back
Down my front and down, down stream
And so were we