….and the street cars keep running

Time is slipping slowly
But the street cars keep running.
Street life is limping
But the power keeps flowing.
I can't get a light
But the cigarette keeps smoking.
Can't see through the fog,
But the looking glass is glowing. 

Reality is greased up and 
Everything has seized up
And the locks are all sticking
And the keyholes are peeking.
And the rabbits are bolting
Into every free hole.
And the sun keeps on sliding
Despite everything I've been told 
And the river's stopped flowing
But the sea level's on the rise.
Why do I keep looking for a spark
In some stranger's eyes?

The street cars keep running
From dusk until dawn
In ghostly cavalcades 
And processions they mourn
Every nerve that's been thrown
And shattered by the might
Of the weight thats gets thrown 
Around the Tenderloin at night. 
And the North Beach Boys
They've got it locked down by
Lighting up the city and 
Painting the town, singing
"The bricks have been built
And the mine has been dug
And the diamonds and gold
Have been turned into mud. 
And the books are all bound
For glory yet nobody digs
What has been written. 
Its all pearls before pigs. 
The records have been cut,
But not a bite has been bitten:
The fruit hangs low, but is sour
And crippled. 

I can't tell the difference 
Between wished for and real. 
I can't stop this movie from 
Flicking round the reel. 

But what I want to know is
How the streetcars keep running
Though the power's burnt out. 
And how the wires keep on crossing
Yet my heart twists and shouts. 
And how so many arms that're empty
Once they were filled.
And how everything is dying
And everyone is ill.
But the street cars keep running
Up 
and 
down
that
hill