Nelson Algren's novel, "The Man With the Golden Arm," may be the most grittily poignant novel I have ever read. And surreal to boot. This song is a direct result of the novel and I would hope that the author's family would think it is a good song. Geoff DeMuth production.
Lyrics
The Man With the Golden Arm
© R. Bain October 2010 inspired by book of same title
Division Street’s dim light beneath the arc lamp
On an early winter’s cold night
The smell of despair lay so heavy
The odor of whiskey last night
And one more shot couldn’t do any harm
To the Man With the Golden Arm
The cards were all stacked against him
But the dealer still tried his old tricks
Across the table his worst friend Louie
Knew the Dealer, needed a fix
And one more shot couldn’t do any harm
To the Man With the Golden Arm
Through tomorrow’s teardrops and yesterday’s rain
Comes a voice, a haunting refrain
Come with me to Cloudland
In the shadow of the el train
And one more shot couldn’t do any harm
To the Man With the Golden Arm
One more shot could not do any harm
To the Man With the Golden Arm
The man with the Golden Arm
The sound that you hear is the closing
Of the gate that awaits at the end
The guilty, the doomed and the dying
All had the look of the damned
We all are within each other
But sometimes we seem to lose sight
And sometimes the things that we think that we need
Are not really worth the fight
And who really knows what became of the man
The man with the Golden Arm
Save a place in your heart tonight
For the Man with the Golden Arm
Look inside of your soul tonight
For the Man with the Golden Arm
One more shot couldn’t do me no harm
Said the Man With the Golden Arm