Barefoot In New York - Arthur Russell

I really wanted to stay awake

I was trying to stay awake

And it was about 7 o’clock on Sunday Morning

Been up all night

Knew I had to finish my work

I knew I had to

As I looked out my window it was

Bright sunlight on the orange bricks of the next building

Very bright sight somehow reflecting

And through the window if I was able to understand

I guess why I couldn’t stay awake

It was not conscious

Before I realized I couldn’t stay awake anymore

But now it’s even worse than before

I was listening to a tape of a lecture on Buddhism

At which I was present

I heard myself asking a lot of stupid questions

I was thickheaded at the lecture

Sitting there on the floor

But to hear it all now it’s even worse than before

Those shoes I had were some name I can’t remember

I found them in a wastebasket about to be emptied

They’re mostly the only shoes I wear

When I found them they had been worn

The bottoms were worn off

Worn off on the edges

They were mostly in good shape

I found that they fit me

I was very happy

There was something about them that sticks to the floor when I walk

It makes a noise

I kept wearing them

They got wet many times and now the stitches holding them together on the sides

is coming apart

Everywhere

And you can see my colored socks in the hole where they come apart

But they stick to the floor when I walk still

Very noticeable

I stepped in some sticky stuff

Spilled by the door

Since then it’s even worse than before

On Broadway one night

There was this fairly high pitched, loud tone that sounded like a siren

People were looking around to see where it came from

The food store on the corner provided a lot of the light

Because it was open

Pretty soon I realized that the sound was coming from

The hood of this one car that was parked on the street nearby

It was empty and locked as you walked toward it

And became even louder

I first noticed the sound when I walked past the store

But now it’s even worse than before

I really wanted to show somehow how things deteriorate

Or how one bad thing leads to another

At first there were plenty of things to point to

Lots of people, places, things, ideas

Turning to shit everywhere

I could describe these instances

But the more I thought about them

The less they seemed to be negative things

But appeared in the scenes as something new and productive

And I couldn’t talk about them in the same way

But I knew it was true that there really are

Dangerous crises

Growing in many different places

That I was blind to then

Once it was easy to find something to deplore

But now it’s even worse than before

The question is whether or not

This kind of music is going to hypnotize you

Do you resent being made to listen to

This monotonous music

Or having to listen to

Such boring sentences

Friends have said that by producing this kind of music

People are put to sleep

In fact, I’ve always thought too

I’ve always disliked the Rolling Stones

Since I found out what they were up to

So when the prospect of doing this very hypnotic music came to my mind

I realized that I should at least bring up the problems of listening to this

kind of rhythm

That is, regularity may temporarily take your mind of the more important tasks

we have

I had to decide if it was in our best interest to present this

But now that I went ahead and did it after asking what it was for

Now it’s even worse than before