I’d like you to meet a friend of mine they call the Glitter Kid,
I’m sure you met him one time, might meet him again,
he’s the kind of guy looks like he’s dead on his feet,
man, he’s so wiped out, might be a pattern on the street.
Fact is, he’s a hustler, always on the make,
but on the other hand, he’s the kind of guy
that really might have what it takes.
He’s the kind of guy, is what he is, just needs a break,
you know how it is, some say this, some say that,
but take it easy, lean back & relax,
‘cause everybody gets to take their turn –
anybody makes a mistake & they’re gonna get burned,
hell I don’t know, violence & drugs, or was it women & money,
the kid’s a comic-book hero but his story ain’t even funny,
shit he ain’t got no place to call his own,
he’s way over the border in the negative zone;
he wants it all but he ain’t got the price,
he can be a mean motherfucker but he smiles real nice.

Well one day the kid was down at the cross-road, Terminal & Main,
saw a little woman down there didn’t look too lame
so he goes Hi, they call me the Glitter Kid –
I do believe you’re new in town &
I’m just the man gonna show you around.
Well, she looked him up & she looked him down
& then she goes well I ‘preciate your rap man
but the store down the way gonna sell me a map.
Listen here honey, he says, the map ain’t the territory
& I surely like the look of your geography.
She goes Hey man, you’re a real cartoon
& I ‘preciate the style of your thought balloons,
but when I’m with a guy it’s through thick & thin
& you don’t even know the fix you’re in.
So he goes well where you comin’ from?
She goes Here I am.
He goes Where you bin?
She goes don’t ask questions & I won’t have to lie.
Well they check out the sidewalk, & they contemplate the sky,
They talk about this, they talk about that,
they talk about where everybody’s been & where it’s all at.
You know how they do.

Finally she asks well what’s your problem?
So that’s the Kid’s cue to go into his major line,
his complaint. This is how he goes:

I got a head full of static,
but my heart is stuck on automatic,
I’m over the border of negative zone,
& I ain’t got a dime for the telephone.
said I lost my baby, friends,
money & my pride,
this life I’m livin’ just one crazy ride.
Loop the loop, level to level;
I seen the lord & I seen the devil.
I got a black & white movie up in my mind
but man those characters buggin’ me all the time
man, I’m a bad actor, tell you true,
every one of my scenes ends in the colour blue.
I just can’t get no decent actin’ role
& now I’m worried ‘bout my eternal soul
my mind got a multi-track mix,
but this flesh & blood got a terminal fix
& well I don’t care if it’s the natural thing,
life just don’t mean nothin’ if it don’t swing.

Then it’s her turn & she goes:
Man, I just ain’t got the time for the length of your line.

You know when it comes right down to it,
if the shoe fits, you gotta wear it.
He’s lookin’ for a love assist
but this gal is more like his nemesis.
Soma, by name, she’s more wild than tame
a real shape-changer & a psychic arranger,
she ain’t his mother & she ain’t his lover;
she got the style of the mysterious other.
She’s a bag-lady, stripper & a movie-queen;
got the most transformational face that you even seen
if she ain’t one place, she’s bound to be another;
she’s a secret operator under very deep cover.
She hangs out at the cross-road of Dilemma & Double-bind
nobody intends to stay long, but what can I say,
some things take time. Life is serious.
Cross-road, pool-hall, movie & a bank
junky’s got a monkey at the take-out place.
Lookin’ left, lookin’ right, wino in the alley gettin’ tight,
& there’s Crazy Joe just got out,
he’d love to tell you what it’s all about,
but don’t mistake the part for the whole,
else the signifyin’ monkey gonna steal your soul.
‘Cause there’s four ways open & a summer sky;
any possibility you care to try –
just make your personal selection,
right down at the intersection,
& nobody gonna tell you what to do,
‘cause nobody can read your mind for you.

And right then she starts goin’ through her changes
just like she’s the original stranger –
gettin’ old, gettin’ younger, gettin’ ugly & disfigured;
she’s the boss, executioner, killer & a crone;
she’s a vision & a voice on the end of the line –
got so many faces you know she’s one of a kind.

She goes well some people yell & shout,
wanta tell everybody what it’s all about,
one person lives for fame, one for greed,
some people never know what to believe.
One person really tries to make some changes,
while another just makes social arrangements.
Yeah some do – some don’t, some will, some won’t
some can do it & some can’t.
Some people can forgive those that do them wrong
while others ride the same groove their whole life long.
One stands up to be accounted for,
another can’t get up off the killin’ floor.
One man steals, another says please,
one picks the lock & the other use a key.
Some people try to rectify their mistakes,
some people learn to live with what they love
& some with what they hate.
Some people never learn to separate
the real thing from the second rate.
Some can do it & some can’t,
some do & some don’t,
some will & some won’t.
Some people are never satisfied –
say the grass is greener on the other side.
One tells the truth, other tells lies –
some people never know when to apologize.
Well some do & some don’t,
one will & one won’t,
one can & one can’t.
Someone’s hangin’ in
& someone’s hangin’ loose,
someone’s in a hurry
& someone’s gettin’ worried,
someone’s lost & someone’s found,
someone’s standin’ on a ledge forty floors up
& lookin’ down.

Well, the kid looks up at the sky for a moment
but when he looks back down, she’s disappeared;
he goes to the corner & no one’s there,
goes cross the street to the little park they got & no one’s there.
Hey, where is everybody? He shakes his head a little,
then he tries to move his arm, but he can’t –
it’s stuck, then he tries to move his head but that’s stuck too.
He can’t move a thing – he’s stuck.
Hell, he’s just another bad luck second-rate statue
standin’ at the corner of Easy Street & Lonely Avenue.
The kid goes shit this is a serious case,
that broad can really operate.

Muzak is doing a little horn & string thing
across the way. He’s got time on his hands
& it won’t wash off – voice in his head says:
one step forward, two steps back –
yeah it’s even worse than that – I’m stuck.

Well, the past throws a shadow on the future,
& when that shadow turns to stone
it’s gonna leave you starin’ out the eyeholes
of a strictly side-line social role –
no purpose, no destination –
just a midnight signal driftin’ off the station.
Picture this & feature that –
memories lean & memories fat,
figure what’s right & what’s wrong –
who’s still in the game & who’s long gone,
yes indeed, you can think about it all you want
when you’re doin’ time
down at the corner of Dilemma & Double-bind.
‘Cause there’s four ways open & a summer sky;
any possibility you care to try –
just make your personal selection
right down at the intersection
& nobody gonna tell you what to do,
‘cause nobody can read your mind for you.

So, here’s the story,
the kid’s just a dead soldier standin’ in the park.
He’s got his head up in the warm vegetable breeze
while his heart’s laid out cold in a deep freeze.
It’s a long & terrible night, but the morning finally comes
as it usually does, & when the first rays of the rising sun
slants through the shining trees
& lands on the shoulder of our poor soldier,
he comes unstuck & when he does,
he leans his head back & he looks up at the sky
& then his mind comes unstuck too
& he realizes that it’s time to mobilize,
says to himself playin’ dead is one way to stay alive
but if you never leave, then you’re never gonna arrive,
I got to move – I just got to move on
gotta catch some rays, change my ways... 

And then the liquid morning light fills up a cartoon of the kid & his girl downtown Manhattan, London, Paris, Hong Kong, who knows . . .  & in the picture they are surrounded by colourful sexual vibrations, little zig-zag lines extending from their bodies to the edge of the strip. Little words at the bottom say – to be continued...