A Northern Boy

When the chill wind steels through the canyon The city puts its heart on ice There's no effort in the rush to escape there That's really no kind of life

It's a one-time tonic for the twist around So we're running through the back streets Find adventure on the wrong side of town No one leafing through the sheets

When the summer comes around The wind blows as hard if you let her But it really can't warm you now A Northern boy ought to know better

Kicking back another own goal It's strange how it feels to know you'll never find the answer To the question that nags at your soul

Didn't you know any better? Did you never learn to rock and roll While your mom was signing the letter Letting you out on parole?

Insist your sister stays the right side of town Not rocking to some guy's beat But she wants to loosen off his frown, somehow Rocking in his back seat

Didn't you know any better? Did you never learn to rock and roll While your mom was signing that letter Letting you out on parole?

When the summer comes around The wind blows as hard if you let her A Northern boy ought to know better

Although some listeners have suggested this was somehow autobiographical, for once, it wasn't. The lyrics are based on an imagined short story of a troubled young man in Chicago, juggling memories of his misspent youth and worrying about his sister while he awaits parole...

...the artwork is a distraction, it's of my photos of one of the bridges over The River Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead looking towards the Baltic Flour Mills. While, I've travelled extensively in the USA, I've never even been to Chicago, although I have driven through Illinois...