I see a million walk the city mile
The ticker tape kings and the juveniles
Will anybody tell me which way to go?
Will anybody come back on the C.B. radio?

I'm counting the stars and the telegraph poles
And each one represents the hopes of a soul
You'd think that God wouldn't be so hard
When you see all the little children running, running in the backyard

On a Mississippi gourd with a Sub-Saharan song
Somebody is wailing in the financial district sun
Can anybody feel the distance to the Nile?
I wanna live and I wanna dance awhile

Gonna make like Eddie on my rockabilly train
Gonna beat out the blues on my ball and chain
Oh, you can't pull a hold-up with a Be-Bop gun
There's people living now, who ain't got no heart
And ain't never had none

Down on the border they crawl all the way
To get a clip of living with a clean-all spray
Can anybody feel the distance to the Nile?
I wanna live and I wanna dance awhile

You can't pull a hold-up with a Be-Bop gun
There's people living now, who ain't got no heart
And ain't never had none

I hear a pay phone ringing out on murder mile
The sucker who picks up gets his number dialed
And all the sparkling waters that ever flowed
Could never wash down this town so clean that it glowed

And I need to see in an X-Ray style
I need some rock art that don't come in a vial
Can anybody feel the distance to the Nile?
I wanna live and I wanna dance awhile