Falling Down Laughing - Jim Carroll

He was feeling invulnerable

That was foolish but wonderful

But of course the first one was always free

He’s got one wrist in heaven, one ankle in hell

Somebody pushed or he just fell

He’s riding the subway watching the lights play

Red yellow green he’s always somewhere in between

The station he wants, the station he needs

And the station where the chickenhawks come to feed

Since the worm turned he’s learned

This apple’s a blood-filled tear

And he falls down laughing, he falls down laughing

He falls down and he disappears

First he tried to be pure now he just wants a cure

He’s wasted, his skin’s sore, he’s flat-out poor

When you live in doubt that’s when your luck runs out

He’s on the roof alone, outside the zone

Now he’s on the street again when he calls him then

Billy just cannot resist

Now he’s an orphan sleeping with the coffins

Just like Oliver Twist

Well since the worm turned.

.

Billy’s tired of the lies, he’s turning every fire

Looking for his own past

He’s limping in the water searching for the quarter

Inch of clarity

His future is raining blood like stars

He’s fallen so far behind

He might as well be blind

Watching late-night film noir inside of stolen cars

His tongue stuck frozen to the monkey bars

His ladder lost its rungs, Billy speaks in tongues

Every time he’s in the clear his past looks back and sneers

But since the worm turned.

.