joni mitchell
the only joy in town
I want to paint a picture Botticelli style Instead of Venus on a clam I'd paint this flower child "You are the air my flowers breathe" He calls, and the ladies turn around On the first day of Spring I'm looking at the only joy around He's the only joy around The only joy I found The only joy in town The Spanish steps are crowded Bunch of bodies brooding there Dead pan side-walk vendors Hustling vacant stares Making all the more exceptional This fool in a flower crown On the first day of Spring I'm looking at the only joy in town He's the only joy around The only joy I found The only joy in town The Botticelli black boy With the fuchias in his hair Is breathing in women like oxygen On the Spanish stairs In my youth I would have followed him All through this terra-cotta town On the first day of Spring We'd dance and sing And be the only joy around We'd be the only joy around The only joy in town He's the only joy I've found All day At night these streets are empty Where does everybody go Where are the brash and tender rooms In Roman candle glow Where are Fellini's circus' La Dolce Vita clowns On the first day of Spring I'm looking At the only joy in town He's the only joy around The only joy I found The only joy in town.