hey uncle louie i wrote you a song i m glad you got your heart out of pawn i m glad you got your king out of check at least that s how things stood when i saw you last it was new orleans before the flood you had just met a girl you were falling in love she lived on the levee and knew the blues and played harmonica better than you in a neighborhood bar in the middle of summer shoulder to shoulder setting like sister and brother all of the sorrows you told each other rose like smoke from the room the heat and the bourbon was in your head you were talking in tongues you were back from the dead and the girl and the city were one and the same and last call never came and i can see you swimming out into the street i can hear you singing when i die don t cry for me hey uncle louie the city is spinning she sure is pretty you sure are grinning she s leading you home from the heat of the bar to lie on the levee and look at the stars you can hold her hand you can kiss her face go slow if you can cause the world is a very sad place and when she leaves she ll leave no trace and the world will still be there the sky is colored in purple and yellow you lie on the levee with stones for pillows and you and the girl and the city make love with the harlequin sky up above