If tonight was a book
It’d be sad confusing poems
Maybe Dylan Thomas
Or maybe Ezra Pound

If tonight was a movie
It’d’ve been made in 1920
Before they shot in color
Before they filmed in sound

But tonight no love song gonna do it
Tonight no happy tune can get me through it
Now I know what desperation means
Tonight I wish I was born in New Orleans
So I could play the blues
So I could really play the blues
Tonight, tonight, I’m wishing I could play the blues

If tonight was a painting
I guess it’d be Picasso
‘Specially that period
When all he used was blue

If tonight was a building
It’d be the wax museum
Full of men like Dr. Crippen
And Jack the Ripper too

Tonight no love song gonna do it
Tonight no happy tune can get me through it
Now I know what desperation means
Tonight I wish I was born in New Orleans
So I could play the blues
So I could really play the blues
Tonight, tonight, I’m wishing I could play the blues
Play the blues

(lyrics: Dan Bern)