Now when Donny was in his prime.
He could make a lot of silver from his stocks.
He could promise himself he could run it himself
He could make a whole world out of blocks.
He wanted to pay them and give it a shot
And he would end up on top.
Man, there was nothing that he couldn’t make.
Except a mess.

II
There’s broken glass in the yards.
Where the iron ore steamers used to stop.
Every promise they made.
Every summer we played.
Now it’s raining outside at the docks.

I want to be fair.
Not easily shocked.
But were we ever on top?

Man there was nothing that we couldn’t take.
Except the mess.

Every morning when I wake up.
And I see my family resting there.
Knowing it’s a great time for the future.
And flowers blooming everywhere

Wonderful to be in this line.
In the right place
At the right time.
You can even see it in their faces
Rise and fall
We will have it all.

But even in this morning light
The sunny times and rain
I never stop to analyze
About their joys and pain
There’s so much interest within this town
That’s swimming all around
But it seems I’m only living for…
The drive.

Look at me!

I’m driving…

Listen to me.
Listen to me
Listen to me
Listen to me.

You grab the handle
Get this damn thing out of park
From the bottom of river
We’ll be speeding to the top

I roll down the screen
As we roll down the street
And I wave at everybody
That I long to meet
Hang on!

Because I’m driving…

Now who do you think makes the whole thing run?
Makes the cars from the flame
In the morning sun.

And who do you think makes the whole thing go?

Makes your heart want to break
The world’s there to take
My life
And Detroit
I believe in you.

Hang on!

But even in the traffic lights
The spinning wheels go round
The only thing that’s in my mind
And every wind and sound

And every mile that goes on by
I think I
Know that I am
On the rise
And so I
And I will only be here for…
A while

(What am I talking about?)

I’m driving…

Grandather
Listen to me.

Lilian
Listen to me.

Eddie
Listen to me.

All
Listen to me.

You’ve got your hand
Put it right here on your heart
From the bottom of the river
We’ll be driving to the top
I roll down the screen
As I roll down the street
And I wave at everybody
That I long to meet

Hang on!
Hang on!

It’s gonna be wonderful
(Marvelous!)
Something else
(The only life!)
We’re gonna see all the thing we can be
(Shiny like a penny on a moonlit night)
And I’ll love you

You know it’s coming true!

Now who do you think makes the whole thing run?
Makes my heart skip a beat
When the evening comes

And who do you think makes the whole thing go?
Makes your heart want to break
The world there to take
My life
And Detroit
We believe in you.

Hang on.

I don’t think you want to know.

Break out a story. I’ll tell you a new one.
Break out a story and I will tell you
Of when I was alone.
There where stones in my path
Til I pulled the rubies right out of my arse
And showed you the truth
Of what I’d do
For life
For love
For you are my son.

Take back that story
Forget the things you’ve done.
Stake out a portion of life
I’m holding
To build a life.
To build a home.
It all goes by so fast.
If you can’t retrieve yourself
From out of that past

Show me right now what you will do
For me
And you
And soon for your son.

I can’t hear you.
I can’t hear you any more.
I can’t here you.
Shouting at me any more.
I can’t hear you.
I can’t hear that any more.
Even if everything is true
And everything you’ve done.

For that was 25 years ago.
(no!)
That was 35 years ago.
(no!)
That was 45 years ago.
(no!)
That was 55 years ago.
That was 65 years ago.
That was 75 years ago.
It will be 85 years ago… and more!

Tear down the house
That my grandfather built.
There’s nothing left to keep these bones
But I see them still.

Tear down every house
But build your own new dream.

He raised a family.
He built a business.
He served his country
And made the difference,

That won the war and
Conceived inventions.
A Golden Age.
All things that you can’t see.

I only noticed

He was too tired to think.
And yet he thought of you.
The rain that fell down his face
Was nothing new.

Surrounded by that fire.
And shrill and raging quiet.

Every day you wake up you feel it’s somehow dangerous.

And even with so many people,
You still feel alone.

I understand my friend about being alone.
But I’m here to tell you, No worry!
Because we all are going home.

(Chorus)
Joy, joy, joy.
I believe there’s joy in store.
I believe that it’s all coming to be
And will be here before we know.

Joy, joy, joy.
I believe there’s joy in store.
I can see that it’s all coming to me
It will be here before we know.

Do you cry at night?
I feel it in me,
Have you felt the pain?
Oh yes I have.
Can you think that nobody else will help us up?

But I don’t cry anymore
Tell us why you don’t.
I don’t feel the pain.

I know that somebody else will help us up.
Going up

(Chorus)

I
Don’t ask me
I don’t think you want to know.
I only knew that
I’d want to be with you.
Beneath things that haunted you.
Surely you know it was for love.

Don’t ask me.
I don’t think we’re meant to understand.
I only knew I’d want to be with you.
I lived my life
Always beholden to you.
What more could we
Hope to live for?

CHORUS
To hold you nightly
Love you rightly.
Show you everything
Deep down within my heart.
To grieve so badly.
Need you madly.
And show you everything within my heart.

Because I know.
Yes I know.
Yes I know.
Yes I know.

II
Don’t ask me.
I don’t think you want to know.
I never noticed
I’d want to be with you.
Speaking of things still haunting you.
Sure that you only did for love?

Don’t ask me.
I don’t think we’re meant to understand.
I never knew that I’d want to be with you.
I never intended
Ever disturbing the truth
Don’t you know no truth can’t hold you?

Because I know.
Yes I know.
Yes I know.
Yes I know.

CHORUS II

III
Don’t ask me.
I don’t think we’re meant to understand.
I always thought that
I’d always be with you.
I always pretended never depending on you
What more couldBut you know it’s true…

CHORUS III
To hold you nightly
Love you rightly.
Show you everything
Deep down within my heart.
To tend your sadness.
Cure your madness.

CODA
I showed you every bit of my heart.
I gave you every inch of my life.
I even died more than one time for you.
Now what else more could you ask me to do?

Don’t ask me.
I don’t think you want to know

There’s the residue of anger.
A stain on every wall.
There’s no point in calling in the crew.
For you won’t wash it off.

I know that you
Have been confused
About the things we bought

But even with all this renewal
Somethings still got lost.

I never knew my father.
All the times I saw him;
Walking by,
With only his hat in hand.

I never watched him, often
But if there was a love gone.
I know that now it was within me
but now I fear it is gone.

All the way,
All the way.
I fall down.
All the way.

I never knew my father
Only by his hat and the way he wore his coat.
It didn’t take much to wear him down
Before the end came.

Hot, cold feelings
Feelings coming over me.
But in my eyes
And in my face,
Something never leaves.

But in my mind before me.
There is a place now gone.
And in my thoughts for all that time,
I wonder if you saw?

All these times.
All these places I have been.
All the things that I would feel
If you were there.

But now and then.
Middle age and thinning hair.
I’ll always wonder.
If you cared.

Can it be so obsessive?
So extreme that all that I would give?

To mean it all
To think of it at all
To believe at all
In something we could name?

But in my eyes before me.
There is a name to trust.
But in my thoughts of
There is a rage that went away.

I go down.
I go down.
I go down,
For you anywhere.
For you anywhere.
For you anywhere,

All the way.

I
Have no fear that I am drowning
My head is above the waves.
Though it seems that storms always surround me
I have no need to be saved.

I will live my life like everyone
as full as any man.
And do the things that God requires
Within my given span.

II
And do for others all the things I could not find myself.
I will not remain with past regrets
when my life is through.

…Well… not quite true.
…I think of you.

III
I’ve begun to see the benefits
Of life here on my own.
You may say that I am by myself
But it’s clear I’m not alone
I deflect attention from the self and
And put my strength in toward all those who far more need help.

IV
(Solo)

So if you see the benefit
Of life beyond yourself
Of doing things that come from within
You can get
Forsaking all the vast rewards
On which I once aspired
Within true light

Coda

Hey, hey the gang’s all here.
Looks like something else is coming
Coming every year
I guess that you could say that I was pretty all alone.
Alone.

Hey, hey the gang’s all here.
Didn’t want to to tell me but the meaning’s very clear
I get that you could tell that I had nothing more to say.
But I get it all the way
And I hear it everyday.
Now I’m gone.
I’m gone.

Hey, hey the gang’s all here.
Looks like we spent a life time
Getting someting for these tears.

We don’t build great things anymore.
We don’t take the time to realize, what it’s for.
But if I could. I’d do great good.
If the price that we are paying,
Means something more.

Never thought I would give in to this moment.
Never thought I would be afraid.
I had planned to be a lifetime.
But I don’t feel the same.

Hey Johnny!
Where are you going with that gun?
If it’s strictly for protection, then why are you showin’ everyone?

Now here’s the problem:
You think you’re lookin’ real rough.
But when they take your little toy from you,
You won’t feel so tough.

Johnny you’re a victim of a televised world
That tells you lies everyday.
And makes you think there’s only one number
That’ll ever come up.

Johnny won’t listen to anybody sayin’ that his life’s too much.
‘Cause’ everybody else is too scared to see Johnny hooked up.

Hey Johnny!
You aren’t lookin’ so tough.
When they used your little toy on you it must have felt real rough.

(Hey Johnny?)

Coda (Sic transit gloria mundi)

Did you ever ride the park,
Fronting on the river scene?.
When the boulevards were young.
Over Grosse Pointe through the trees.

Did you ever see the plan,
When the century was young?
All the buildings crowned in marble …..?
Driving fast down Evergreen.

When the elm trees lined the avenues
Standing tall against the green.
Wrapped in halos of the motor cars
Like nobody’s ever seen.

Now we drive on down the boulevards
Past the buildings racked with pain.
And I squint so hard through broken glass
Trying hard to see the past.

And then no one sees the emptiness.
When I cannot find a job.
Having seen the thought of,…
Will the future look Supremes?