A Night This Side of Dying - Carole King

I remember one young sister with rainbows in her eyes

Standing on the corner with the afternoon’s supply

She spoke of other places, perhaps a better road

Then she asked if I could tell her where they

Kept the mother lode

Like a night this side of dying

Her day’s inside the dropper on the shelf

When she hears her lifeline crying

Not a thing you say can stop her

When she just can’t stop herself

I remember that July, the panic and the heat

The savage shine of summer, the trychnine in the street

The way thay sold each other for a favor in glassine

The best of friends sold brothers for a

Dime of quinine dreams

Like a night this side of dying

Her day’s inside the dropper on the shelf

Like the shelter she’s been buying

Not a thing I’ve got can save her

When she just can’t save herself

She just can’t save herself