On the Dark Side of Town - Janis Ian

I wound up talking with your wife

She says you’ve got another life

Thought you’d finally settled down

But you keep on going 'round to the dark side of town

She says you promise not to stray

Then you make your getaway

And she prays for it to pass, and you say that it won’t last

Because you’re going nowhere fast

On the dark side of town, where new lovers meet

At the old lost and found on the edge of the street

And the noon shadows hide from the fires outside

On the dark side of town, where some woman waits

To worship your crown, to burn at your stake

I lay myself down on the dark side of town

She says you fill her with desire

But when you want her, you’re a liar

She can taste it on your breath

Cutting through the cigarette

She can smell it on your sweat

You’ve been taking off your ring

Women see these little things

You might think it doesn’t show

But it shows how far you’ll go

To feed the fire down below

On the dark side of town, where new lovers meet

At the old lost and found on the edge of the street

And the noon shadows hide from the fire outside

On the dark side of town, where some woman waits

To worship your crown, to burn at your stake

I lay myself down on the dark side of town

I said — I know that woman well

And I will see her soul in hell

Before I let her carry on 'til all your hope is gone

Man, you should have seen her smile

Like she’d known it all the while

And she said — thank you from me and my child

Thank you from me and my child

On the dark side of town, where new lovers meet

At the old lost and found on the edge of the street

And the noon shadows hide from the fire outside

On the dark side of town, where some woman waits

To worship your crown, to burn at your stake

I lay myself down on the dark side of town