Steve Tannen

Shelter Hotel
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Took a pretty girl to Paris
She was a millionaire heiress
I didn’t love her and she didn’t love me
And we stayed up drinking ‘til the morning

Chorus:
Shelter hotel, shelter hotel
I love your loneliness
I hear the night’s cathedral bells
Shelter hotel

But what a bitch in the morning
And it rained every damn day
Just give me something so I have something
that I can throw away
There was a war on the TV we had it on without the sound
Go get some wine and watch the rain come down

Repeat chorus

And I want to stay but I know better than that
I've been in love so many times that now it barely makes a scratch
She was taking off her dress
We barely noticed when outside the darkness fell
Shelter hotel

San Francisco
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Well she gave me the big see ya’ later and I don’t think I will
Cinco alli estoy* turn left at Gilroy and head up on 280

And I’m gonna stay high, lie low
San Francisco

You see I lived with an actress-to-be, she was amazingly lifelike
I spent a year in LA it’s hard to believe but I've been missing the turnpike

And I’m gonna stay high, lie low
San Francisco
I’m gonna stay high, lie low
San Francisco

Down in the Mission
And up at Half Moon Bay and Franklin Hill
I wonder if she’s still down in the Mission

And so I heard the song of the big señorita
The world it is falling by degree
Cinco alli estoy turn left at Gilroy and head up on 280

And I’m gonna stay high, lie low
San Francisco
I’m gonna stay high, stay high, stay high
San Francisco

Down in the Mission
And up at Half Moon Bay and Franklin Hill
I wonder if she’s still down in the Mission

Sing Me To Sleep
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Well I hung around like cigarette smoke on your jacket
And in the motel rooms the lullaby was the sound of traffic
And the pretty girls on the avenue they give it up for free
I stand in a streetlight so everyone can see I’m so lonely without you

Chorus:
Baby sing me to sleep turn down the covers ‘cause talk is cheap
Baby sing me to sleep ah turn out the lights
Remember the nights when the rain fell eighteen inches deep
Baby sing me to sleep

And at closing time we’re a nickel and a dime
In the deep back pocket of America
Trying to find wings or something to carry you home
Right now you better make the best of your situation
Escape through a hole in the conversation
The sun comes up like a revelation and I’m so lonely without you

Repeat chorus

But you came up like a wind came up like a weed
All black and blue all lipstick and need
To dig a hole in your heart to bury the doubts
She holds the bottle like a gun in her mouth

You head downtown in your black leather jacket
You’re getting old now but you still stop traffic
The sun comes slow like it’s thinking it over
The moon shoots a dirty look over it’s shoulder
And I’m so lonely without you

Brother Uptown
Words and music by Steve Tannen

I should have called ‘cause she was awake
She opened the door and the look on her face said I got company
And at the black eyed bodega by the catholic school
I drink to get drunk on that Cuban Mule
Makes you feel like your heart is on fire

Chorus:
It’s a cold, cold night to wander around
I see my future in flights of birds
Hey hey, have you been down 'cause I've been down
I’m gonna go see my brother uptown

He slips money in my jeans and thinks I don’t see
I play along and pretend I’m asleep on the floor
It’s no more than an 8x10 sanctuary
And it’s late in the day and late in the year
And god only knows how they sky is still clear
'Cause you won’t get it back 'cause the money’s been spent
And the chances of rain are 100 percent

Repeat chorus

Who is gonna save me from everything you gave me
Everywhere I went I was sent there by you
You pray for rain then you wish it would stop
You hate your family and then they’re all that you’ve got

Unfurl in the wind you know it runs east to west
I follow his footsteps down to Amsterdam
Where the streets are so wide put the wind in your hair
And if I knew where I should go I would go there

Love in Vain
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Outside my window the traffic is diamonds
Curved in a shape like the nape of your neck
Men are collectible action toys
And pretty soon you’re gonna have the whole set

I know all there is to know about missing a train
Love in vain

I jump the railing to the Galaxy diner
With the moon in the sky I’m shining like a planet
All of your boyfriends read you like a book
Me I read it, but I didn’t understand it
Still if you want somebody to blame...
Down where you live it’s all twisted and narrow
And now your heart is too from all the justification

I know all there is to know about missing a train
Love in vain
Go ask anybody else I had and they’ll tell you the same
Love in vain

It's the same old show and you’re watching it go
Though you’ve seen it before
I was laughing how the crying had me down on the floor
It’s not funny no more

Everyone else that I meet is a sideshow
This love is like the last love only more so

I know all there is to know about missing a train
Go ask anybody else I loved they’ll tell you the same
Love in vain

Can’t Say for Sure
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Waterfall let the devil take ya’ down to the river if ya’ cannot sleep
Where the fancy boatmen with their hearts all broken they will ferry you for cheap
I’m gonna lean up against ya’ New York City
I’m gonna slip inside your coat
Couples kiss as if to tell ya’
That what they got you don’t

Chorus:
Ooh yeah don’t do this to me leave me standing at your door
I can’t say for sure it’s over I know but I can’t say it
Can’t say for sure from where I’m calling
Or why I’m falling at your feet
Ooh yeah don’t do this

Come clean you’ve been mean to me and the sweetness is a raft
The moon above me you can’t love me in the spare time that you have
Lean yourself against somebody anyone will do
Or light a candle in your window and I will come for you

Repeat Chorus

Father forgive me the end of the day
Fighting off sleep cause it’s slipping away
Jelly bean friends taste of Easter back home
They’ll do you dirty but I’ll never leave you alone goodbye
I can see it in your face and in your heart and the big old highway
That brung the bright day heads off somewhere in the dark

Don’t Go Away
Words and music by Steve Tannen

She gets me drunk in a taxi
She leans down in the back seat
Spend my money I don’t mind
Come on it’s closing time

Chorus:
Love stands still to catch you in a spotlight
The moon is pale like it was left on all night
Don’t go away oh no stay outside my door
Don’t you know it will be different in the light
The way the night turns into yesterday
Don’t go away

You can lie to me and I’ll be true to you
The more you fake the act the less you feel it’s true
Don’t go baby everybody does it like that
I want to see you with your head thrown back

Repeat chorus

Does she love you, you know that she does
That’s all I meant when I said heaven above
How can I believe when she leaves she leaves
Drunk in a taxi

And last night takes a back seat to the morning
Morning traffic, morning rain
And the total silence on the morning train

Looking for Water (in Joshua Tree)
Words and music by Don Everett Pearce

I drove out interstate 10 rolling east
Past a thousand windmills I may as well be a priest
'Cause I ain't been with a woman in such a long time
The sun came up on the desert town
In some easy desert heat I'm out and walking around
And it's been feeling like a desert inside of me
I come looking for water in Joshua Tree

Across the yards the wind blows hard, my skin is so pale
There's a sign on one front lot that says "New Age Books for Sale"
A woman comes to the screen door and bends down
One heel lifts off the floor she doesn't make a sound

And the black hair falls across her face
As she fools with a stocking or a hose or a lace
I would play her amazing grace if I'd only brought my harp
And there's a small motel with a vacancy
I come looking for water in Joshua Tree
I come looking for water in Joshua Tree
I come looking for water in Joshua Tree

Nobody Listens
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Shouted for my whiskey, shouted for my wine
Shouted for my true love she used to be with me all the time
Shouted up to heaven for an answer from the sky

Chorus:
Can you hear that If Only, does the good lord call you
Will you come home to me, Ellen where are you
The road’s a long and a lonely and I pray each and every day
But nobody listens to a word I say

Everyone’s drinking with their heads in their hands
Nobody’s talking but I understand
Every word they’re saying
Like you’re whispering still in my ear

Repeat chorus

I don’t want to hear it from you
Why you got to tell me the truth
And all the words that I said, they never said what I meant
And where the time goes I guess that’s where you went

I cry to the river and the river cries back
How can you tell me he loves you like that
I’m tired of talking to you all the time
I'm gonna talk to myself
Nobody seems to mind

Love Come Knockin’
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Love come knockin’ on my door
Love come knockin’ just once more
It’s not like I care, it’s not like I’m criticizing
It’s just everybody else has got someone
The downtown lights, the kiss goodnights, the once or twice

Don’t leave me messages when you know I’m not at home
Love come knockin’

Inside my room hey up by the moon outside of the conversation
After the bars I stand staring up at the stars

And don’t leave me messages when you know I’m not at home
Love come knockin’

Ma cher, c’est ne pas bien
I swear I thought you and me were friends
Love come knockin’

Love where you been I’ll let the telephone ring but I’d do anything
It’s not like I care it’s not like I cry all night on the stairs

Just don’t leave me messages when you know I’m not at home
Love come knockin'

Allison is Crazy
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Allison is crazy in grace amazing
She’s a dreamer never came to
She’s walking on my street
Through the glass in her bare feet
You know my heart beats only for you
Monkey see monkey do I’m just trying to get on back to you

Chorus:
Water wide and starry deep
I watch her while she falls asleep
But Allison is crazy

You could take away the shotgun but that’s just a symptom
I think you better treat the whole disease
Could you fix it with the Phen-Phen
Come home in the A.M.
When the night is fait accomplis, please, please
I’m just trying to get on back to you

Repeat Chorus

Every word she says sounds like rescue me
Guilty or not you plead insanity
There is a moon over closing time
And I can’t get you out of my mind out of my mind out of my mind

You come up from a subway just before the new day
Wake me to ask if I’m awake
You think I oughta lose first to find out what love’s worth
Don’t you think I know the way the earth can shake
Monkey see monkey do I’m just trying to get on back to you

Repeat Chorus

Allison I'm crazy for you

Picture of You
Words and music by Steve Tannen

You were doing cocaine center stage
And I was watching from the balcony
You said I never fought for you
When did you ever fight for me?

Chorus:
I know how you look in a dress of blue
What I don't need is another picture of you
Tell me love survived and whether or not it's true
I don't need another picture of you

Do I sound bitter? I'm not bitter
I'm just not sweet anymore
I see you on the magazines, I see you on the TV screens
I still see you naked stretched out on my floor

Repeat Chorus

I don't need another picture of:
Your back, your hair, your hands, your face
Your eyes, your eyes a suicidal grace
You're back, I still can hear you laugh
But I got no photographs

It's not worth saving
Love is an engraving that won't be washed away
And the past is a Polaroid and you hit what you can't avoid
I was captured by the triptych
Until I turned around and ripped it

If You Don't Feel That Way
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Stop the moon in the sky
So it can't move and you can't say goodbye
The stars hung low like the sky was a tree
I'd stay here forever if it was up to me

Chorus:
I don't worry Maria
Something in the dark with you makes it OK
Oh Maria turn the light on and just say
If you don't feel that way

Late night let me in
And your corduroy pillow made a tattoo on my skin
Took me all night drinking and home on your shoulder
What I did to feel young only made me feel older

Repeat Chorus

Oh Maria come on
Why you want to be alone
With your big blue eyes and your Scorpio heart
I love you in the light, I want to love you in the dark

Sent you a dime store postcard that said "I wish I was there"
And what you never say hangs between us in the air
Cigarettes, coffee, Nabakov tattoo
If it was up to me it wouldn't be up to you

Repeat chorus

Rocks and Water
Words and music by Steve Tannen and Deb Talan

Seven times I went down
Six times I walked back
I don't fear the dark anymore
'Cause I've become all that

Chorus:
I will be rocks I will be water
I will leave this to my daughter
Lift your head up in the wind
When you feel yourself grow colder
Wrap the night around your shoulders
I will be with you even then
Even when I cannot see your face anymore

Don't forget the time I wooed him with red wine
The devil he wore such a fine, fine shirt
And it stayed so clean
While he dragged me through the dirt

Now honey don't trust anyone who looks you in the eye
Don't take any kindness, it's a demand in disguise

Repeat Chorus

I have seen such things child
On this and the other side
Words cannot show you
The midnight owl it does not know you
You will see for your sweet self by and by

Repeat Chorus

Sick to the Bone
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Let the medicine take over
Close the blinds with my hands
I stayed in bed most of October
I thought I was well but I guess I am

Chorus:
Sick to the bone of waking lonely
And trying to keep my head from going under
I keep going so sick to the bone and still
Stuck to my guns, drinking alone, sick to the bone

The very unmarried ladies of Avenue A
Say "Spread the wealth baby spread the wealth"
Are you feeling a little unsteady today?
Sugar have I got something for you
It's something strong, like medicine
Like the beard of the old man, like you know I am

Repeat Chorus

Hey you better heal yourself
Hey you better lock your door
'Cause it's kill or cure

I thought I had the inoculation
It turns out not to be the case
And the sky is loaded like a question
Like the beard of the old man, like you know I am

Repeat Chorus

Stopped At A Green Light
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Don't forget who brought you here
Staring down the barrel of the year
Trying to find the hope despite the facts
And waiting for the night to fall like an ax

Chorus:
Colors fade away and red turns to grey
You're all right you're just stopped at a green light

A lonely year
Is love just another waste of your time?
Stopped at a green light

Now you never go nowhere
So you never get nowhere
And every road is wrong
The sun goes down, lights come on

Repeat Chorus

Maybe you will never grow old
If you go no further down the road
Friends who were familiar have all grown strange
Yes and still the light waits for you to change

Gay boys
Words and music by Steve Tannen

You only go the streets you know
You never wander down this dead-end alley
Never cross against the red light or smoke a cigarette
Last night I made you my girlfriend
Don't pretend that I did not feel good between your fingers
Go home but I won't be alone

Chorus:
Gay boys gay boys out in the back they remind me of you
Gay boys speaking Spanish the way they do
Tight ass no noise oh those gay boys

I can see your future, it's a diamond ring
And you'll never do nothing about anything
You'll just keep hanging your head about last night
Listen to the straight girls crying into the microphone
It's a long walk home
Go on but I won't be alone

Repeat Chorus

Ooh La La the way they talk
Wind your life up like a clock
One day you'll open like a rusty lock
Covered in a gentle sweat
Whispering I love you like a threat
As close to saying nothing as you can get

Repeat Chorus

Good Times
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Down in the subway out in the street
And in the eyes of everyone I meet
There is an absence that you can see
Something missing that used to be there

Chorus:
Good times now they're gone, nothing to do but carry on
It just takes so long to get nowhere
With all the stars shining bright every much too late at night
It just seems I always leave behind good times

Windows, windows, rivers of cars
This whole city is like an empty bar
With nobody dancing except for me
I hear music that used to be here

Repeat Chorus

So you can find some place and call it home
But being in love was like being along on a night that never ends
Wondering when they'll come again
Will they come again?

Yours If You Want Me
Words and music by Steve Tannen

I just dropped by to say hello
And tell you something that you may already know
I’m yours if you want me

But I tend to get addicted to anything I can get addicted to
May want to do things I don’t think you want to do
Don’t answer right away ‘cause I’m not through
It used to be someone else and now it’s you
I’m yours if you want me

Maybe I'll leave for just a minute and maybe I’ll never come back
Maybe I prefer to be by myself maybe I just don’t have the knack
I hate the rich I hate the poor and everything that I lack
I want to throw my body on the railroad tracks
I’m yours if you want me

And on the road where they killed that poor boy
Back by the shade of the trees
The subway sounds like the end of the world
Sometimes I hate this city
You're so pretty

Can’t get up in the morning can’t sleep at night
You’ll come and make it ok and then it’ll never be quite right without you
People talking bout me well I swear it’s not the truth
I want to clean you like a cat I want to give you further proof
Then you can add up all the lies upon the lies that I tell
And turn them into a road and go to hell
I’m yours if you want me

And in the bar downtown with all the chrome and the glass
I start to feel something for you
I take a minute and let it pass
I’m yours if you want me
Yours if you want me

Vegas Baby
Words and music by Steve Tannen and Greg Tannen

Friday I can't see the use
Get the hell right out of Dodge
Slip the traffic like a noose
On the trail of some mirage

Chorus:
'Cause every time it comes I think my luck will stay
Drive all the way to Vegas baby

Got no aces up my sleeve
Got nowhere to rest my head
Got no money sir to lose
And the sky is turning red

And I change out of my jeans
On the road beside the lake
Like the skies that I have seen
When I have been asleep-awake

Repeat Chorus

Take the rain as a sign
Get myself dressed to the nines
And I will pay for this
Somewhere down the line

And I'm flying through the heat
And the Mexicali radio
Every car is like a prayer
Searching for somewhere to go

Late Night Phone Call
Words and music by Steve Tannen and Deb Talan

I think the worst things when the phone rings after 3 AM
And even far away how you get to me
What do you want baby?

Chorus:
Late night phone call with her back against the wall
Pretend you don't care at all late night phone call

You make it worthless you flunk on purpose
Below the surface baby how can you breathe?
And when you're all alone the sound of no one home
Can make you lose your faith or make you believe

Repeat chorus

You are the same old shade of blue
Curtains designed to see through
Close your eyes against the streetlight
Won’t you try to get some sleep?

Hard Luck Kid
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Black lace hard case with too much makeup on her face looking for an evening touch
Getting late soul mate she sure would be a cheap date if she didn't drink so much

And the sun came up and it did not matter
I was in your bed and the sky was red with the night in tatters
No one forgives you what you did you're just a hard luck kid

With a cold steel head reeling anywhere is better feeling stumbled out into my car
True love like a glove d. It's none of the above fades like morning star

And the sun came up and it did not matter
And the beach was bed and my eyes were red with the night in tatters
No one forgives you what you did you're just a hard luck kid

Lights on the highway and bottles in the sand
You're always a stranger always changing what you think you understand
do you understand that the wreckage is the message
You thought it meant something

And the sun came up and it did not matter
And goodbye she said and her eyes were red with her heart in tatters
No one forgives you what you did you're just a hard luck kid
Hard luck kid

Just A Little
Words and music by Steve Tannen

Stuck in traffic trying to get to New Orleans
The further on I go the more I long for where I’ve been

You know what? Just forget it
Name something and I regret it
And the sun sets like surrender
And I guess I misremember that whole mess
And I guess you didn't love me just a little

300 miles and I still miss your stupid face
And now I’m drinking in a bar someplace
And now I’m drinking in a bar someplace
Back to my hotel like surrender
And I guess I misremember what went on
And how the whole world looked at dawn
When you were waiting by my door
I’m sure you didn't love me just a little

Why does everybody ask if I’m ok?
I probably made the whole thing up anyway

So here I am down in New Orleans
With the concrete and the broke down dreams
Kind of reminds me of every place I've ever seen

You know what? Just forget it
Name something and I regret it
The sun sets like surrender
And I guess I misremember that whole time
And what your lips felt like on mine
It was the sweetest fever dream
You probably don't know what I mean
But if you could face up to it
I would admit I didn't love you just a little

Stopped at a Green Light: All Songs ©1996-2002 Steve Tannen (BMI) except "Rocks and Water" and "Late Night Phone Call," ©2002 Steve Tannen & Deb Talan (BMI/ASCAP), and "Vegas Baby" ©2000 Steve Tannen and Greg Tannen (BMI). All rights reserved.

from "Big Señorita"

	Shelter Hotel
	San Francisco
	Sing Me to Sleep
	Brother Uptown
	Love in Vain
	Can't Say for Sure
	Don't Go Away
	Looking for Water (in Joshua Tree)
	Nobody Listens
	Love Come Knockin'

from "Stopped at a Green Light"

	Allison is Crazy
	Picture of You
	If You Don't Feel That Way
	Rocks and Water
	Sick to the Bone
	Stopped at a Green Light
	Gay Boys
	Good Times
	Yours If You Want Me
	Vegas Baby
	Late Night Phone Call
	Hard Luck Kid
	Just a Little