The Rent Song

I am sitting by my window
I am thinking of my rent
I am looking through my pockets
I am wondering where it went

I am feeling like the devil
Maybe like the devil's wife
I am singing for my supper
I am singing for my life

Things go up and things come down
And we have all these highs and lows
But are we even in the end?
I don't think anybody knows

But when I look out my window
I pretend that I'm in France
You know I never have been there
But I might jump at the chance

What do you do
with a troubled mind?
Do you sing, do you cry
Do you wait for a better time?

Do you think about tomorrow
When you're living in today?
Can you stop this tide against you
Make it go the other way?

When I am sitting by my window
I can hear the little birds sing
and I like to hear those little birds
because then I know it's spring

And spring comes after winter
This I truly know
So spring is surely coming
It is just so goddamned slow

I am sitting by my window
I am thinking of my rent
I am looking through my pockets
And wondering where it went

I am feeling like the devil
Maybe like the devil's wife
I am singing for my supper
I am singing for my life


(April 1981)