Video Ballad Of The Lights de Arthur Russell 2025 Lyrics Lyrics

Arthur Russell - Ballad Of The Lights Lyrics

A young man sits on the bridge
After nightfall
And looks across the Hudson River to New Jersey
He wonders about life
And he wonders if he'll ever get old
He sees the lights
He wonders if they are talking to each other
And he wonders if they are talking to him
And he asks if they are

My mind settles down
On those lights from New Jersey
Why I chose New Jersey to look at, I don't know

Wеll one thing's for sure
I'm herе to see those lights
It doesn't matter, don't matter, no
Where I come from or where I go

Well what does it mean
Those lights
I can't resist the thought that they are twinkling to each other

Are they?
Are they?
His leisure hours are spent in a way
That mystifies his younger years
Thinking hard, he has no say what's in his eyes
And meets his ears

Well one thing's for sure
I'm here to see those lights
It doesn't matter, don't matter, no
Where I come from or where I go

Well what does it mean
Those lights
I can't resist the thought that they are twinkling to each other

Are they?
Are they?

Lights are shining brighter now
But it's not home for me
Different lights across the river
Lights of industry

They are so beautiful
Very, very, very beautiful

Please Mr. Mystery
If I'm sitting oh so still
All along it's only me
All those lights have lost their meaning
Please oh Mr. Mystery

Suddenly the ice that was floating down the Hudson stops
The flow has stopped
And so, dejected
He wanders back
Into the city
Back to the bars
Back to where he first found happiness
But he didn't notice
On the brick warehouse wall
The hulking, lurking shadow of a human form
Mr. Mystery