We Do What We Can

[Verse 1]

Downstairs they're playing Kenton

The house set to swing

I lay in my bed

And listen to everything

'Cause Leo's in rare form tonight

His trombone sings so sweet

This is the room

Where they all come to meet

[Chorus]

And he said

"I do what I can

I live for the moment

And that's who I am

Yeah, that's who I am

And isn't it good?

If we could freeze moments in time

We all would

I do what I can

I do what I can"

[Verse 2]

Downstairs he's playing Kenton

The Magnavox sighs

And oh, how the music has changed

In all of our lives

He says, "Nobody listens to modern jazz

And I'll never have what those guys have"

[Chorus]

And he said

"I do what I can

I work for a living

And that's who I am

That's who I am

And it's good to be alive

But everything's different

Since Leo died

I do what I can"

[Verse 3]

Is this the end of the modern world?

What could it mean for a young girl

Who sees the pain on his face?

He does what he can

The procession on the TV screen

What could it possibly mean for a man

Who's come this far, just to turn around?

Could there still be life in Kenton's swing

With the Kennedys gone and everything?

Those sad rows of houses with their optimistic colors

Democrat grandparents and draft-dodging brothers

Riots down the street and discontented mothers

We do what we can

[Bridge]

Downstairs it's quiet

Less alive somehow

Somehow, he was everything that I am now

[Chorus]

And he said

"I do what I can

I work for a living

And that's who I am

That's who I am

But it's good to be alive

And these are the choices we make to survive

You do what you can"