Features: Bruce Hornsby (piano, vocals, synthesizer); Jimmy Haslip (bass); John Molo (drums); J.T. Thomas (organ); Debbie Henry (backing vocals); John Dearth (trumpet); Bobby Read (saxophone), Levi Little (vocals); David Hollister (vocals); Pat Metheny (guitar).
Amanda says: I’ve got some pet theories of my own about it, and thought I’d take the opportunity to share them. I think it’s along the same lines as Down the Road Tonight – a man in love with a woman whose profession is, well, not exactly socially acceptable. In this case she’s probably a stripper. “Watching the men always looking down,” “No one looks me in the eye/They save it for the girls inside.” However, this time the girl actually loves him back, I think. “I don’t much care what they see/I know she saves it all for me.” Maybe he even runs the strip show, since he’s the one taking tickets. What really gets me with this one is the contrast between the lyrics and the music itself – it seems like such a light, happy, fluffy Hornsby tune, but the message (at least the way I interpret it) is really pretty heavy. Anyhow, that’s my theory.
Elyce adds: Vernon James is the man who works in the ticket booth at a strip club. I think his girlfriend is one of the strippers. He is not bothered that all these men are paying to oggle his lady, because at the end of the night she comes to get him and they go home together ( I don’t much care what they see/ I know she saves it all for me”).
The reference to “someday I’ll walk in the sun” may have to do with the fact that in this job, no one sees him. (“No one looks me in the eye/ they save it for the girls inside”) and/ or perhaps they think he is just some loser because of his job. He knows that he (and his lady) won’t be doing this forever, and one day they will be free to walk together in public, with heads held high.
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Walk in the Sun
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Morristown, NJ
Solo show; audience recording
April 12 1999