San Francisco
I knew it was time to hit the road
When I finally started learning my way around
Can't get too confident
It throws me off

And your voice was always loud and clear
You said that I would love it here
"You can really feel the difference;
Nothing but good will in California."

And I thought that it might be a city full of
People like you
People who'd stop and ask you how your day was
People with your kind of way of filling
Up the whole room
I don't think I could be in a
Bad bad mood around you
Oh no..

So I got off the plane
I couldn't believe that I was here
And we went speeding down that endless highway
You said, "Those things out there are palm trees
And they're swaying on their stalks
I like the way they move
It makes me happy

And do you feel happy now
You've come to San Francisco?
Send a hundred postcards out to everyone you know
You can stay at my house
Take a bus out to the mission
And practice your guitar all day
As if it was your home."

You thanked your friend for the ride
We reached your house
We went inside
You said, "It looks like a crack house
But it's affordable housing
And as I stepped into the hall
I saw the bright blue writing on the wall
It said, "come and find your vision..
Come and find your hope
In California."

And the window was open and I felt the fog come and
Enter my dreams
But all my sleep was stolen by awakenings
So I went outside in the half-grey light and
Wandered the streets
I thought that I could make it there in bare feet

And I saw the sleeping town and lights of San Francisco
A woman laying out upon her roof to catch the moon

And I felt your presence in the air
My God, I've missed you
Like a lighthouse always, Julie
Shining out across the fog

I came home after a while
With battered feet and something wild
That I found on the corner of fourteenth and Elsie
You put it in a vase
By a statue of Jessie Helms you'd made
Out of pink triangles and a broken coat hanger

And the paintings that hung on your wall were of
Crimson and
Purple and gold

You said, "They have their secrets but they can't be told."

And skipping you took my hand and said
"Let's dance on the beach
You know the sand is finer and the air is sweet
In California."
And I felt the sand between my toes in San Francisco
And I touched the ocean and the ocean tasted me

And I sat and played guitar for folks at Frieda's Pizza
On a warm night in the mission

And they said, "You must come back soon."
And I came back every day

But summer turns to fall, and I heard Massachusetts call
And like a leaf in Autumn I had to find the ground
I went to say goodbye to all my friends both low and high
And I planted a flower by a chinkapin tree

And in the midst of the rust and the cigarette butts
I planted it deep
And it was leaning lightly out
Towards the breeze
And I planted it high on the top of a hill
In the afternoon light
And then I had to go back down and catch my flight
Home

And I feel you in my blood and mind like San Francisco
And I feel your earthquakes from the other side of town
And if you should come back East
To Boston, well, I'll kiss you

I do remember you now most especially in the fall