Album: Mermaid Avenue (1998)

Walt Whitman's Niece

[Intro:]

Last night or the night before that (I won't say which night)
A seaman friend of mine (I'll not say which seaman)
Walked up to a big old building (I won't say which building)
And would not have walked up the stairs (not to say which stairs)
If there had not have been two girls

(Leaving out the names of those two girls)

I recall a door, a big long room (I'll not tell which room)
I remember a deep blue rug (but I can't say which rug)
A girl took down a book of poems (not to say which book of poems)
As she read I laid my head (and I can't tell which head)
Down in her lap (and I can mention which lap)

[Spoken:]

My seaman buddy and his girl moved off
After a couple of pages, and there I was
All night long, laying and listening
And forgetting the poems
And as well as I could recall
Or my seaman buddy could recollect
The girl had told us that she was a niece of Walt Whitman
But not which niece
And it takes a night and a girl
And a book of this kind
A long long time to find its way back

[Harmonica solo over verse chords]

Last night or the night before that (I won't say which night)
A seaman friend of mine (I'll not say which seaman)
Walked up to a big old building (I won't say which building)
And would not have walked up the stairs (not to say which stairs)
If there had not have been two girls
(Leaving out the names of those two girls)

Yes, I recall a door, a big long room (I'll not tell which room)
I remember a deep blue rug (but I can't say which rug)
A girl took down a book of poems (not to say which book of poems)
As she read I laid my head (and I can't tell which head)
Down in her lap (and I can mention which lap)

[Fade out: guitar solo over verse]