Riverbank - John Cale

All along the riverbank

Nobody seems to know

They heard nothing, saw even less

Of the hunger in their souls

Safety first or safety last

I wish I could have helped

Those poor unfortunate widows standing

Waiting for their sailor boys

Old Madame Nhu, yes madame knew

Yes madame knew

Down they came to look around

Round that riverbank

For names or numbers or anything they could find

Written there on the wall

'Cause somebody seemed to know

But no one was prepared to tell

Anything they’d learnt to love about long ago

Anything at all they’d learnt to love long ago

With the cold people getting colder

Like babysitters in their graves

Satisfied as heretic vicars passing on

Send them running on ahead

Picking up the windy trash instead

Like foulmouthed people, open-heart surgery creatures

Crawling back inside of you

All along the riverbank

Nobody will ever know

What fools and their monies, what sailors and their honeys

Got stung one evening there

'Cause the stones around their necks

Are the stones on the riverbank

'Cause the stones around their necks

Are the stones on the riverbank