Off Night Backstreet

Joni Mitchell · Don Juans Reckless Daughter [1990]

Maybe I'm just kidding myself

When I say, "I love you", I don't know

Loving without trusting



You get frostbite and sunstroke

I wish I felt nothing

You pimp laughing and strutting her to my chartered seat

Your old off night backstreet



It's been stinger to stinger, darling

It's been heart to heart

You still keep me from finishing

Any new love I start



Now she's moved in with you

She's keeping your house neat

And your sheets sweet

And I'm your off night backstreet



I can feel your fingers

Feeling my face there are some lines

You put there and some you erase

Maybe I'm just dramatizing, I don't care



It's home, it can be Heaven when we play fair

But these sentimental journeys

Late at night high in some back room

You're calling me to be your off night backstreet



You give me such pleasure

You bring me such pain

Who left her long black hair

In our bathtub drain?