Grey flannel suit and a snap-brim hat
He slides from the seat of his black Cadillac
His face is in shadow as he walks from his car
A block down Sunset and into the bar
Cigarette and a shot of rye
For the disillusioned private eye
There’s a green-eyed girl at the bar and she’s
Surrounded by smoke and glamour and sleaze
And she smiles kind of sadly, and asks for a light
And tells him her name in the Hollywood night
It’s a fantasy dream on the cinema screen
A dance of the light in a particle beam
And God only knows it’s a long way down
From the Hollywood hills to this Midlands town
But I keep on coming to watch again
Where the clean cut boys and the hard boiled men
Play out their parts and snarl out their lines
And I’m looking for something among all the signs
Where the world isn’t grey, it’s black and it’s white,
And you know what to do in the Hollywood night
But I heard Philip Marlowe’s walked out of the door
His office is closed, he don’t live here no more
He’s moved to Ohio; he don’t give a damn
Can’t even be bothered to chercher la femme.
So I’m packing my bags and I’m booking my flight
To the city of angels and Hollywood night
Where the girl with the eyes as green as the sea
And the slash of red lipstick is waiting for me
And she’ll smile kind of sadly and hold me tight
And we’ll walk together into the Hollywood night
