River of Madness-Ray Manzarek

Lyrics: Stephen Gordon/ David Glonfrido/ Sterlie Orphan Publishing/ Warren Zevon Music: Roy Rogers Benny's outa luck - he should be robbin' banks He oughta get out now and hail a cab-instead of drownin' at Musso and Franks He's out to settle up a 10 year tab - the scores are tallied and the plans are laid Along Las Palmas on a windy night-he motions to the neon-shade Who's got some thoughts on how to set him right-all the pieces of his splintered soul A toast to every hungry trigger man - every hanger-on that lost control There's a river of madness runnin' thru LA There's a river of sadness deep inside the clay There's a river of longing through Another dahlia slips away There's a river of need -a river of fright Wide enough to drown the city of angels / tonight… Up on the canyon rim-that's where the wind blows free Past the bruise-eyed Cienega queens-there's a gentleman for Ben to see He honks at the packs of phony Jimmy Deans- drinkin' cocktails of revenge and fear Salty air and someone's chic perfume-December's killing everywhere but not here In this garden of impending doom-the Angel City's so sick arid strong Ben takes the nod to be the muscle man-but don't get caught where you don't belong He didn't see the steel- he didn't feel the flash The vision started to undo-he was headed for a dying crash He saw the web tying every two-bit-fool-with sparkling eyes and crumbling dreams From River Phoenix dying on a city street To the oblivion that swallowed Lady Norma Jean For everyone discovered there's a thousand lost-pith's a hoax and blind ambition saves