Trouble In Paradise

Trouble In Paradise

I Love L.A., Christmas In Capetown, The Blues, Same Girl, Mikey’s, My Life Is Good, Miami, Real Emotional Girl, Take Me Back, There’s A Party At My House, I’m Different, Song For The Dead



I Love L.A.
Lyrics

Hate New York City
It’s cold and it’s damp
And all the people dressed like monkeys
Let’s leave Chicago to the Eskimos
That town’s a little too rugged
For you and me, you bad girl

Rollin’ down the Imperial Highway
With a big nasty redhead at my side
Santa Ana winds blowin’ hot from the north
And we was born to ride

Roll down the window, put down the top
Crank up the Beach Boys, baby
Don’t let the music stop
We’re gonna ride it till we just can’t ride it no more

From the South Bay to the Valley
From the West Side to the East Side
Everybody’s very happy
‘Cause the sun is shining all the time
Looks like another perfect day

I love L.A. (We love it)
I love L.A. (We love it)

Look at that mountain
Look at those trees
Look at that bum over there, man
He’s down on his knees
Look at these women
There ain’t nothin’ like em nowhere

Century Boulevard (We love it)
Victory Boulevard (We love it)
Santa Monica Boulevard (We love it)
Sixth Street (We love it, we love it)
We love L.A.

I love L.A. (We love it)
I love L.A. (We love it)
I love L.A. (We love it)


Christmas In Capetown
Lyrics

Every night
In Jungletown
All the boogies in the street
Radios turned up very loud
Playin’ Dancing Queen
They love our music

This English girl from the North somewhere
Is stayin’ with me at my place
Drinkin’ up all my beer
Talkin’ about the poor niggers all the time
It’s a real disgrace, she says
I tell her, Darling, don’t talk about things
you don’t understand
I tell her, Darling, don’t talk about something
you don’t know anything about
I tell her, Darling, if you don’t like it here
go back to your own miserable country

It’s Christmas in Cape Town but it ain’t the same
Oh, the boys on the beach are still blowin’
And the summer wind still kicks the clouds around

You know my little brother, babe
Well, he works out at the diamond mine
I drove him out there at five this mornin’
The niggers were waitin’ in a big long line
You know those big old lunch pails they carry, man
With a picture of Star Wars painted on the side
They were starin’ at us real hard with
their big ugly yellow eyes
You could feel it
You could feel it

It’s Christmas in Cape Town but it ain’t the same
The stores are open all the time
And little kids on skateboards cut in and out of the crowd
And the Christmas lights still shine
Myself, I don’t like to drink the way
I used to, man, you know
It don’t seem to get me high
And the beer don’t taste the way it
ought to taste somehow
And I don’t know why

Don’t talk to me about the planes
Man, I’ve heard it
Just take a look around
What are we gonna do, blow up
the whole damn country?
I don’t know

It’s Christmas in Cape Town
It’s Christmas in Cape Town
It’s Christmas in Cape Town


The Blues
Lyrics

He’s gonna tell you ’bout his dear old mother
Burned up in a factory in Springfield, Mass.
He’s gonna tell you ’bout his baby brother
Hustlin’ down the city streets
And selling his ass for a dollar bag
He’s gonna tell you ’bout his uncle Neddy
Locked up in a prison out in Oregon
He’s gonna tell you ’bout his best friend Eddie
Killed in a bar fight with a pair of Marines
And a sailor
Oh

He’s got the blues, this boy
He’s got the blues
You can hear it in his music
He’s got the blues, this boy
He’s got the blues
You can hear it, you can hear it

When I was nine years old
My daddy ran away
With a woman he met on a train, oh
His little boy
Ran to the room
Where his piano
Lay in wait for him
He played and he played
He played and he played

He’s got the blues, this boy
Has got the blues
You can hear it, you can hear it
He’s got the blues, this boy
Has got the blues

A year ago, I met a girl
I thought we’d hit a massive groove
But she dumped me
And all we’d hit were the blues

He’s got the blues, this boy
Has got the blues
You can hear it in his music
He’s got the blues, this boy
He’s really got the blues


Same Girl
Lyrics

You’re still the same girl you always were
You’re still the same girl you always were

A few more nights on the street, that’s all
A few more holes in your arm
A few more years with me, that’s all

You’re still the same girl

With the same sweet smile that you always had
And the same blue eyes like the sun
And the same clear voice that I always

You’re still the same girl

That I love


Mikey’s
Lyrics

Have you seen my Marie?
She’s gone off somewhere
Unexpectedly
If she wanders in here, babe
Tell her I’m lookin’ for her
I ain’t mad or nothing
I just wanna talk

You know, Mikey
We’ve been friends for a long time
You tell me all your troubles
And I’ve always told you mine
North Beach has changed though
Since we were growin’ up
Didn’t used to be any spades here, now you got ’em
Didn’t used to be any Mexicans here, now you got ’em
Didn’t used to be any Chinamen here
Didn’t used to be this ugly music playing all the time
Where are we, on the moon?
Whatever happened to the old songs, Mikey?
Like the Duke of Earl
Mikey, whatever happened to the fucking Duke of Earl?


My Life Is Good
Lyrics

A couple of weeks ago
My wife and I
Took a little trip down to
Mexico
Met this young girl there
We brought her back with us
Now she lives with us
In Our Home
She cleans the hallway
She cleans the stair
She cleans the livingroom
She wipes the baby’s ass
She drives the kids to school
She does the laundry too
She wrote this song for me
Listen
Yeah

The other afternoon
My wife and I
Took a little ride into
Beverly Hills
Went to the private school
Our oldest child attends
Many famous people send their children there
This teacher says to us
“We have a problem here
This child just will not do
A thing I tell him to
And he’s such a big old thing
He hurts the other children
All the games they play, he plays so rough
Hold it teacher
Wait a minute
Maybe my hears are clogged or somethin’
Maybe I’m not understanding
The English language
Dear, you don’t seem to realize

My Life Is Good
My Life Is Good
My Life Is Good, you old bag
My Life, My Life

Just this evening
Some young associates of ours
Are flying in to see us from
New York City
They’re gonna stay with us
Oh, a couple of weeks or so
I’m gonna take ’em to
Restaurants and everything
Gonna get’em some
Real good cocaine
They don’t get much
Where they come from
And this one’s guy wife
Is such a pretty little brown thing
That I’m liable to give her a poke or two
Whaddaya think of that?

Teacher, let me tell you a little story
Just this morning
My wife and I
Went to this hotel in the hills
That’s right
The Bel-Air Hotel
Where a very good friend of ours
Happens to be staying
And the name of this young man
Is Mr Bruce Springsteen
That’s right, yeah
Oh, we talked about some kind of
woodblock or something
And this new guitar we like
And you know what he said to me
I’ll tell you what he said to me
He said, “Rand, I’m tired
How would you like to be the Boss for awhile?”
Well, yeah
Blow, Big Man, blow

My Life Is Good
My Life Is Good
My Life Is Good
My Life, My Life Is Good


Miami
Lyrics

There’s a girl over there
With the rhythm everywhere
She’s a very fine girl
And she’s been awfully nice to me

When we walk as we sometimes do
All the way out to Collins Avenue
Well it’s very, very fine
Very, very special
Very

Gee, I love Miami
It’s so nice and hot
And every building’s so pretty and white
And I always get into so much trouble
When I’m down here
I know these two old stiffs
Live on the Waterway
That’s where I like to stay
When I’m down
In

Miami
Blue Day
Best dope in the world
And it’s free
Miami
Blue day
Put on your shortie shorts
And your Hawaiian shirt
And come down!

There’s a man over there
With the conk in his hair
He’s a very bad man
Don’t look now
He’s really very bad
And his name is Medina
And he comes from Argentina
See that little dog there with him
Well, he treats it just like it was his little boy

Oh, I love Miami
It’s so hot
And the women down here
Are so impure
I love to hang around
The big hotels
And sleep in the sun all day

I know this double jointed guy
With the circus in St. Pete
He’s with me now
He says hello
From Fourteenth Street
In

Miami
Blue day
Best dope in the world
And it’s free
Miami
Blue day
Put on your shortie shorts
And your Hawaiian shirt
And come down!


Real Emotional Girl
Lyrics

She’s a real emotional girl
She wears her heart on her sleeve
Every little thing you tell her
She’ll believe
She really will
She even cries in her sleep
I’ve heard her
Many times before
I never had a girl who loved me
Half as much as this girl loves me
She’s real emotional
For eighteen years she lived at home
She was Daddy’s little girl
And Daddy helped her move out on her own
She met a boy
He broke her heart
And now she lives alone
And she’s very, very careful
Yes she is

She’s a real emotional girl
Lives down deep inside her herself
She turns on easy
It’s like a hurricane
You would not believe it
You gotta hold on tight to her
She’s a real emotional girl


Take Me Back
Lyrics

Everyone tells me
I was dealt a losing hand
The way that I look
And the way that I act
It’s not hard to understand
Sure I got troubles
Maybe you got’em too
I’d like to explain what has happened to me
So it doesn’t happen to you

I was born in Los Angeles
Many, many, many years ago
We lived out in North Hollywood then
In a steamy little bungalow
My mother, my father
My baby brother and me
Playin’ cowboys all day
Out there in the valley
What a perfect family

Hey, hey
Get ’em up, get ’em up
Come a ti yi
Hey

Went off to high school
When I was thirteen
I was kind of advanced
If you know what I mean
Ran into some trouble
Drinkin’ heavy with my friends in the hills
My daddy had to come down to the station to get me
He said, “Where is my angry young man?”

Take me back
Baby, please take me back
I don’t wanna live here by this dirty old airport
In this greasy little shack
Take me back
Baby, please take me back
Just give me a chance and we’ll start all over again

Now that young girl
Was just a summertime thing
She went back to school
When the school bell rang
Now I do my laundry by myself
Every night I eat alone
Baby please, please, please
Won’t you let me come back home

Goin’ off to college
Passed every test
They said, “Let’s send this boy to Palo Alto
He could be one of the best”
Four years at Stanford
Worked very hard
A lot of good it did me, little tramp,
Your’re ruining my life

Take me back
Baby, please take me back
I don’t wanna live here by this dirty old airport
In this greasy little shack
Take me back
Baby, please take me back
Just give me a chance
And we’ll start all over again
Just give me a chance
And we’ll start all over


There’s A Party At My House
Lyrics

There’s a party at my house tonight
Everybody’s wound up nice and tight
They’ll be rockin’ and rollin’ till the mornin’ light
There’s a party at my house tonight

Tell everyone you see
To come along with me
We’re gonna have some fun
We’re gonna rock the night away
Still be rockin’ when the mornin’ come

Stand back baby
Don’t get excited
Didn’t I tell you, mama
Everyone’s invited
There’s a party at my house
There’s a party at my house
There’s a party at my house tonight

Don’t forget to bring that little red-haired girl along
You know the one
Love to watch her jumpin’ up and down
Seem like her face gets all red and spotty
Like she’s been out too long in the sun

And that little blue vein right beneath her breast
Man, those nipples
Pink as a rosebud
Hey Bobby, get the rope
All right
There’s a party at my house tonight


I’m Different
Lyrics

I’m different and I don’t care who knows it
Somethin’ about me
It’s not the same, yeah
I’m different and that’s how it goes
Ain’t gonna play your goddamn game

Got a different way a walkin’
I got a different kind of smile
I got a different way a talkin’
Drives the women kind of wild
(Kind of wild)

(He’s different)
And I don’t care who knows it
(Somethin’ about him)
It’s not the same
(He’s different)
And that’s how it goes
(And he’s not gonna play your gosh darn game)

I ain’t sayin’ I’m better than you are
But maybe I am
I only know that when I look in the mirror
I like the man
(We like the man)

I’m different and I don’t care who knows it
Somethin’ about me
Not the same
I’m different and that’s how it goes
Ain’t gonna play your goddamn game

When I walk down the street in the mornin’
Blue birds are singin’ in the tall oak tree
They sing a little song for the people
And they sing a little song for me

(He’s different and he don’t care who knows it
Somethin’ about him
Not the same
He’s different and that’s how it goes
Ain’t gonna play your gosh darn game)

I’m different and I don’t care who knows it
Somethin’ about me
Not the same
I’m different and that’s how it goes
Ain’t gonna play no boss man’s game


Song For The Dead
Lyrics

Deep in the field
A lone soldier stands
With mud on his boot
And blood on his hands
They left him behind
To bury the dead
And to say a few words on behalf of the leadership

Pardon me, boys
If I sleep off my pack
And sit for a while with you
I’d like to explain
Why you fine young men had to be blown apart
To defend this mud hole

Now our country, boys
Though it’s quite far away
Found itself jeopardized
Endangered, boys
By these very gooks
Who lie here beside you
Forever near
Forever

We’d like to express
Our deep admiration
For your courage under fire
And your willingness to die
For your country, boys
We won’t forget
We won’t forget


Released by Warner Brothers (23755-2) in 1983.

Produced by Lenny Waronker and Russ Titelman.

Written, arranged, and composed by Randy Newman.