{"id":4065,"date":"2022-01-10T22:17:47","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T22:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/?page_id=4065"},"modified":"2025-03-08T01:10:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T09:10:11","slug":"i-write-your-name-lyrics","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/jim-carroll-lyrics\/i-write-your-name-lyrics\/","title":{"rendered":"I Write Your Name Lyrics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I Write Your Name
<\/em>By The Jim Carroll Band
Atlantic, 1984<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also:<\/strong> album details<\/a> and audio library<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LYRICS INDEX<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

| “Love Crimes”<\/a> | “(No More) Luxuries”<\/a> | “Voices”<\/a> |
| “Sweet Jane” (by Lou Reed)
| “Hold Back the Dream”<\/a> |
| “Freddy’s Store”<\/a> | “Black Romance”<\/a> |
| ” I Write Your Name”<\/a> | “Low Rider”<\/a> | “Dance the Night Away”<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love Crimes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Carroll and Lenny Kaye<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hollywood looks good at night
The TVs get fine reception
But last night Jean told Steve
About her imminent conception<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She wants a plum tree for the house, for their child
Stevie raised his head and said, “That’s wild!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stevie tried and tried
Jean would not comply
She said, “Your partying needs, you see,
Ain’t nothing to this seed in me
You make love a crime<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billy don’t live in his spirit
Billy don’t live in his heart
Billy walks around Times Square at night
His body is his art<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life is easy when you’re pretty and 16
Just make sure that your underwear is clean<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billy don’t ask why
He just stares at the sky
He says, “Love always leaves you bent,
This way I pay the rent.”
He makes love a crime<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still believe in romance
I just think there’s something missing
‘Cause last night just by chance,
I saw you and Ivan kissing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jealousy rose up right
From its hole
Just when I had it all under control<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Say goodbye, goodbye
‘Cause you’re both gonna die
Don’t ask me why
It’s all in your eyes,
You made love a crime<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t ask me why
It reflects in your eyes
You made love a crime<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 Dr. Benway Music, ASCAP (1983)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


(No More) Luxuries<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Carroll and Paul Sanchez<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your uncle’s scandals shook the house of lords
Your daddy’s squeezed out as Chairman of the Board
No more doctors write you no more ‘scripts
No more intercontinental trips<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No more luxuries
No more luxuries<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No more crystal pistols up your nose
The dry cleaner wants money on the clothes
The Rolls Royce, my dear . . . need it be said?
If I were you I would think “Mo-Ped”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refrain:
No more luxury . . .
No more luxuries
And all you are left with is me
Left with me
Left with me
No more luxuries<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You gotta do it in a whole new way
But I’m gonna make a vow to stay
We gotta eat it off the floor a while
You don’t even have a phone to dial
Do it in a whole new way,
Honey, that’s the price we pay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your necklaces have turned to centipedes
They slowly crawled away . . .
And the bar is empty and there ain’t no waiter
The ice all melts in the refrigerator
The dead meat drips
On the asparagus tips<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s no more luxuries
You’re left with me
No more, no more
There’s no more luxuries<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That article on you in Interview
It was dropped for a feature on Monaco’s Zoo
Calvin called, he wants his hand-made vest
And it’s snip snip to your American Express<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No more luxuries
No more luxuries
And all you are left with is me
Just me, mon cheri<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No more lunching out at “21”
What you get now comes inside a bun
“C’est la vie,” the color TV
That’s gone too, but I’ll stay with you<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repeat Refrain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 Dr. Benway Music, ASCAP (1983)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Voices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n


Hold Back the Dream<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Carroll and Brian Marnell<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n[Messed?] and peculiar
Dancing with Julia
I see no spare sky
This is the last try<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The static from dreaming
Is only now seeming
To bring on disaster
I told you, I asked her
All she said was, “No”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refrain:
Sometimes you need a matador
Sometimes you need a charging bull
The dust will rise and shield the sky
No dreams to push, no dreams to pull<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Down to the bone
I was dancing with Mona
New stars are born she says
At the break of morning
Just before morning<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must be up and dressed to survive
It’s been a week now
I’ve had no sleep how
I think this maybe far
Only Good truly knows<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repeat Refrain 2 times<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hold back the dream<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 Dr. Benway Music, ASCAP (1983)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Freddy’s Store<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Carroll and Paul Sanchez<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m walking Uptown
I hear a most peculiar sound
Like a seashell in my ear
Like the ocean was near
I go inside this store
To get my head clear<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once I’m inside the air is fresh as [a lie?]
You are greeted by a civil servant
She is dressed in beads
She jots down your needs
And casually recedes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look around
Take the elevator down
Take it down
Once you reach downstairs
They take special care of you
You cannot believe what you see
You know guns to stop time
Laid out in a line
445’s to Uzi-3’s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A man comes up in a uniform
He says, you were just who we were looking for
You heard the sound
Let me show you around
This place is big as some small towns<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We got every gun beneath the sun
And the same for heavy munitions
We got the space to train
But we don’t know you’ll learn
But now take the time, just look around<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look around
Feel the water rushing down
Rushing down<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refrain:
But you better get ready
If you’re going to Freddy’s
If you’re going to Freddy’s store
You can lose or win
You can sink or swim
But you don’t know where or what for<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you better get ready
If you’re going to Freddy’s
If you’re going to Freddy’s store
It’s not exactly hell,
It’s more like Bechtel
They got only one item to sell<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a booth for dressing
Also used for confession
There’s a Jesuit on call here
Twenty-four hours a day
He can guide you to pray
To waylay your modern guilt and fear
You live by the sword, you die, etcetera
And the same goes for an M-15<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what the hell
When Freddy rings that bell
Just make certain that your weapon is clean
And pointing down,
Down to the ground<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you live in the tropics?
Can you fight on the sand?
Have you compunctions to function
in a far off land?
Can you kill a despot in an African nation?
Can you bite the pill
if the operation don’t go down?
Down, if it don’t go down<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there’s a galley [. . . ?]
[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?]
We don’t distinguish left or ust don’t ask about behind that door<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can stand on the corner
You can do the jerk
You can go to the disco
You can go berserk
But there are plenty of generals
And plenty of Shahs
Who drive a Coupe DeVille after the Coup de Etat<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s up to you,
You got one chance to score
Everybody gets a little piece of war
Just don’t ask about behind that door
Hit the ground, get down
It’s coming down
The door is coming down<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repeat Refrain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 Dr. Benway Music, ASCAP (1983)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Black Romance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Carroll<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything you ever wanted
Is passing with the driving rain
I died like a salamander
On my heart heavy like a chain
I been waiting here at the Uptown theater
And it’s all becoming clear that<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refrain:
It’s too much head
And not much heart
But if you think about the end
It might never get started
It’s a black romance
But it’s one more chance
And if you fight out of spite
You know that just ain’t right<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone you ever cared for
Is staying at the big hotel
I’m in the lobby with my hobby
And my rags and my bags
And the desk man rings a bell<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I put a sign on my brain
that said, “Do not disturb”
But the maids keep walking in
Then they make these beds
Inside my head
I wish they’d throw everything out instead<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repeat Refrain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little girl go out dancing
Little girl dance all night
Little girl dance to a love that’s pure
[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?]
I could hold your soul before a 1000 watt bulb
It wouldn’t shine back at me<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repeat Refrain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 Dr. Benway Music, ASCAP (1983)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


I Write Your Name<\/h2>\n\n\n\n