“Forty Shades of Blue” Sheet Music (pdf).
“Forty Shades of Blue” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).
Lyrics: Larry Kirwan.
Tune: Larry Kirwan.
Oh, it’s midnight on the Bowery,
And your feet are soakin’ wet.
And you drank your last brass farthin’.
You’d sell your soul for a cigarette.
And the sounds from CBGBs
Are comfortin’ to you.
Then, you think of the green fields of Ireland,
And you feel forty shades of blue.
Ah, you’re back on the drink since September,
And your head feels like a sieve.
And you know that you’re goin’ from bad to worse,
But you just don’t give a shit.
And the hymns from the Sally Army
Sound heavenly and true.
Then, you think of your friends and your family,
And you feel forty shades of blue.
Ah, you’ve got a great future behind you,
But you’re goin’ nowhere fast,
Just up and down the Bowery,
From Canal Street to old St. Marks.
And you wonder what she’s up to now.
Did she really find somebody new?
How the hell could she just walk out like that
On your forty shades of blue.
And you wonder how it came to this.
Was it always in the cards
‘Cause workin’ is for idiots
And you loved the smell of bars?
And the letters that you sent back home
Were full of all the things you’d done.
But they don’t say you’re down there on Bleecker Street
With your hand out on the bum.
Now, the dawn’s comin’ up on the Bowery,
And you’re heart sick and soakin’ wet
With your tongue hangin’ out for some Irish rose.
You’d sell your soul for a cigarette.
And some day, I’m gonna give up this drinkin’,
And maybe some day, I’ll win the lottery, too.
Then, I’ll go back home to old Wexford town.
I’ll paint her forty shades of blue.
Forty shades, forty shades of blue, blue, blue.
Oh, Johnny Cash, where are you now? Where are you now
When I got such a need of you, Johnny Cash, the man in black?
Where are you Johnny?
I got such a, such a need of you.
Ah, Johnny, I’m down on my knees, baby.
I’m down here on St. Marks waitin’ for you, you,
With your forty, forty shades, forty shades of blue, blue, blue.