William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed (Live)

Lyrics

[Part I] [Intro] Da da da da da da da, da da da da da da Well, I've got a very simple and a very quiet song here which, uh I wrote about Lincoln Park, uh Just uh, when I came back from Chicago I thought I'd write thunderous protest songs And I didn't, I just wrote this one little song I wrote two songs I'll sing you, I'll sing you two songs about Chicago, the Chicago experience This is, this is the first one It's a— Now there are many people who uh, who didn't come to Chicago There was a big— At one point everybody wanted to come to Chicago And then it got very scary and then nobody wanted to come to Chicago And five thousand of the, of the three hundred thousand showed up Here's a song commemorating those who didn't show up It's uh, if I remember the chords [Verse] Oh, where were you in Chicago? You know I didn't see you there I didn't see them crack your head Or breathe the tear gas air Oh, where were you in Chicago When the fight was being fought? Oh, where were you in Chicago? 'Cause I was in Detroit [Part II] [Intro] That's about the movement psychology And, uh Bbut it really doesn't matter if you were in Chicago or not Because whether you were or not, Chicago's going to come to Vancouver As it's come to Los Angeles Chicago's going to come everywhere in the Western Hemisphere And we'll all get to meet Mayor Daley in person one way or the other And more than anything else, Chicago was probably sadder than– It was exhilarating at the time and then very sad afterwards Because something very extraordinary died there, which was America [Verse 1] As I went out one evening To take the evening air I was blessed by a blood-red moon In Lincoln Park the dark was turning I spied a fair young maiden And a flame was in her eye And on her face lay the steel blue skies Of Lincoln Park, the dark was turning, turning [Verse 2] They spread their sheets upon the ground Just like a wandering tribe And the wise men walked in their Robespierre robes Through Lincoln Park the dark was turning The towers trapped and trembling And the boats were tossed about When the fog rolled in and the gas rolled out From Lincoln Park the dark was turning, turning [Verse 3] Like wild horses freed at last We took the streets of wine But I searched in vain for she stayed behind In Lincoln Park the dark was turning I'll go back to the city Where I can be alone And tell my friend she lies in stone In Lincoln Park the dark was turning