The Changes

The scene is set, everybody's in place -

Two chairs filled for every five gone to waste

The pantsuit girl gave me a nasty gaze

Said, "Play that on your own time."

I walk to the bandstand, blowin' my horn

Nobody knows what we're really here for

Let's take it out hard 'til they show us the door

It's us against them tonight

Play the changes

Make the changes

Hear the changes

Take it out hard 'til they show us the door

A girl with a nose ring said to me

She said, "Where's the joy in your delivery?"

I said, "Maybe there's not supposed to be

Any real joy at all."

She sat there with that plaster smile

As we sit jiving, but in a little while

Holding her hair, she joined the single file

And walked on down the hall

Play the changes

Make the changes

Hear the changes

Us against them, them tonight

The owner says he thinks we need some work

"Got a place for you, we got some roadwork -

Laying asphalt on the interstate."

Nobody cares, and why should they?

A white girl in a dashiki says, "You're all the rage

My friends and I think you're quite the sage."

Wear a kofu and a finger gauge

To see which way the wind blows today

Play the changes

Make the changes

Hear the changes

To see which way the wind blows today

Old friend Dave with the silver spoon

Says, "Why don't you play those good old tunes?

Give it up now, you could fill the room."

I say, "There's nothing like a good 'Trane tune."

Changes

These things called changes

Where do we go, go from here?