Lush Life (Live at Perkins Palace, Pasadena, CA, April 17, 1982) lyrics

(written by Billy Strahorn)

I used to visit all the very gay places

Those come-what-may places
I used to visit all the very gay places
Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life
From jazz and c*cktails

The girls I knew had sad and sullen gray faces
With distingue traces
That used to be there -- You could see where they'd been washed away
By too many through the day
Twelve o'clock tales

Then you came along with your siren song
To tempt me to madness...
I thought for a while that your poignant smile
Was tinged with the sadness...
Of a great love for me
Ah yes, I was wrong
Again, I was wrong

Life is lonely again
And only last year, everything seemed so sure
Now life is awful again
A trough full of hearts could only be a bore
A week in Paris will ease the bite of it
All I care is to smile in spite of it

I'll forget you, I will
While yet you are still
Burning inside my brain
Romance is mush
Stifling those who strive
I'll live a lush life in some small dive
And there I'll be, while I rot with the rest
Of those whose lives are lonely too