Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
Joni Mitchell Lyrics

When Charlie speaks of Lester
Whenever Charlie mentions Lester's name

You know someone great has gone
It is a sign that a great musician has passed away

The sweetest swinging music man
He was a musician who played the most melodic and smooth music

Had a Porkie Pig hat on
He wore a hat that looks similar to Porkie Pig's hat

A bright star
A shining luminary

In a dark age
At a time of social and political chaos

When the bandstands had a thousand ways
When places for musical performances exclusively catered to white musicians

Of refusing a black man admission
By which they would refuse black musicians from performing

Black musician
A musician of color

In those days they put him in an
Back then, they placed him in a

Underdog position
An unfavorable, disadvantaged position

Cellars and chittlins
Musicians of color had to perform in low-class environment and food arrangements

When Lester took him a wife
When Lester got married

Arm and arm went black and white
They, as an interracial couple, walked or stood close to each other with arms in arms

And some saw red
Some people became angry or upset

And drove them from their hotel bed
They were kicked out of their hotel room

Love is never easy
Love can be a challenging experience

It's short of the hope we have for happiness
It is not always what we expect or desire to be happy

Bright and sweet
It is a beautiful and enjoyable thing

Love is never easy street
Love is never a smooth or effortless experience

Now we are black and white
Now, including myself, there are people of different races

Embracing out in the lunatic New York night
We are loving each other in the crazy, mad New York night

It's very unlikely we'll be driven out of town
It is unlikely that we will be forced out of this town

Or be hung in a tree
Or be killed by lynching

That's unlikely!
That is highly improbable

Tonight these crowds
This evening's crowds

Are happy and loud
The people are joyful and making a lot of noise

Children are up dancing in the streets
Little kids are dancing in the roads

In the sticky middle of the night
In the stuffy, humid time when it is dark outside

Summer serenade
A peaceful song in the summer season

Of taxi horns and fun arcades
Of taxi's honking and exciting alleys with games, foods, and fun activities

Where right or wrong
Where things are either acceptable or not

Under neon
Amidst brightly lit neon lights

Every feeling goes on
Any mood is expressed

For you and me
Both for us

The sidewalk is a history book
The pavement is a witness to past events

And a circus
It is an entertaining and fascinating spectacle

Dangerous clowns
Clowns who are risky or hazardous to deal with

Balancing dreadful and wonderful perceptions
Holding opposite and extreme views in an unstable equilibrium

They have been handed
They have been given or inherited

Day by day
Every day or over time

Generations on down
Passing down or from one generation to another

We came up from the subway
We rose up from the subway station

On the music midnight makes
With the music played in the midnight hours

To Charlie's bass and Lester's saxophone
To the sound of Charlie's bass and Lester's saxophone

In taxi horns and brakes
With the sound of taxi horns and brakes

Now Charlie's down in Mexico
Charlie is now in Mexico

With the healers
With the healers or medical practitioners

So the sidewalk leads us with music
So the pavement takes us along with the music

To two little dancers
To observe and see two small dance performers

Dancing outside a black bar
Dancing in front of a bar made for Black people

There's a sign up on the awning
An indication is displayed on the canopy

It says, "Pork Pie Hat Bar"
The name of that establishment is Pork Pie Hat Bar

And there's black babies dancing
And there are Black infants dancing

Tonight
On this particular evening