I Need You - Dan Bern

Walking around the happiest place in the world
But all I do is wonder if your hair is still curled
South of brownsville
Texas
South of miami beach
But all it means to me is that your further out of reach
Everywhere is sand and sun
Blue sky water too
I
I need you
Spanish moss is hanging and you find a polished stone
Pocket it for luck
And then you walk on alone
They'll rent you a bicycle with the tires blown
They'll cook you up a blackened fish
And strip it to the bone
The slave ship just came in
I've been talking to the crew
I
I need you
In that house hemingway is boxing in the back
I go to the library and check out all the facts
Nowadays it's hard to write a line my own thoughts bore me
I found me an island kid who says he'll do it for me
I'm wiping all my tears away so no one has a clue
That I need you
The last plane out of saigon did not know that it was
Every man in prison thinks he's locked up for a cause
I need something to do
My violin needs to sound
I'm going to see if ernest wants to go a couple rounds
Sometimes you get lost
Then you find something new
I need you
Some bird's flapping in the road on some crazy madman's string
Something's messed up with his wing
Something's messed up with my everything
So here's the truth at last
I tell you
Hemingway is dead
And everybody wants to find a steak that's slightly red
I thought I could escape myself by just not getting dressed
I thought I could escape you by coming to key west
Sometimes you get lost and you don't find something new
I need you