Now the Rangers had a home-coming in Harlem late last night
And the Magic Rat drove this beautiful machine over the Jersey State Line
Barefoot girl sits on the hood of an old Dodge drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain
Rat pulls into town, rolls up his pants, together they'd make a stab at romance
And disappear down Flamingo Lane
Well now the maximum lawmen they run down Flamingo chasing the Rat and the barefoot girl
But the kids 'round here they live like shadows always silent, holding hands
From the churches to the jails tonight there is silence in the world
As we take our stand
Down in Jungleland
There's a crazy kind of light tonight, brighter than the one that sparkles for prophets
It's even brighter than the Giant Exxon sign that brings this fair city light
There's an opera out on the Turnpike, there's a ballet being fought out on the alley
And the local cops, Cherry tops they rips this holy night
Well the streets alive with tough-kid Jets in Nova-light machines
Boys flash guitars like bayonets and rip holes in their jeans
The hungry and the haunted explode into rock 'n' roll bands
They face off against each other in the street
Down in Jungleland
In the parking lots the visionaries are dressed in the latest rage
As the Spanish Angels dance soft and low in a blacked arcade
The lights are so dim, he crosses the room, the band moves into the song
He looks in her eyes, takes her hand, and they're gone, gone
Oh beneath the city two hearts beat, soul engines wantin'
In a bedroom locked silent whispers and soft refusal and then surrender
In the tunnel of machines, Rat chases his dreams
On that forever lasting night, the girl crawls into bed, shakes her head
And with a kiss and a sigh she shuts out the light
But outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz
Between what's flesh and what's fantasy
Well now the poets down here don't write nothin' at all, they just stand back and let it all be
And in the quick of the knife they reach for their moment to make an honest stand
But they wind up wounded, not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland
Featuring the best sax solo of all time, JUNGLELAND is the ultimate rock and roll opera, if you forget the
connotations of that term. Unlike the bloated remnants of glam and pop "opera" such as Queen's
Bohemian Rhapsody, JUNGLELAND weaves a story that is worth the telling as much as it is uplifting musically.
