Scarlet Begonias / Fire on the Mountain (Live in Hamilton, Ontario, March 22, 1990)

I was walkin' 'round grosvenor square

Chill to the winter but a nip to the air

From the other direction, she was calling my eye

It could be an illusion, but I might as well try, might as well try

She had rings on her fingers and bells on her shoes

I knew without askin' she was into the blues

She wore scarlet begonias tucked into her curls

I knew right away she was not like other girls, other girls

In the thick of the evening when the dealing got rough

She was too pat to open and too cool to bluff

As I picked up my matches and was closing the door

I had one of those flashes I'd been there before, been there before

Well, I ain't always right, but I've never been wrong

Seldom turns out the way it does in a song

Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right

Well, there ain't nothing wrong with the way she moves

Scarlet begonias or a touch of the blues

There's nothing wrong with the look that's in her eyes

I had to learn the hard way to let her pass by, let her pass by

Wind in the willows is playing "Tea for Two."

The sky was yellow and the sun was blue

Strangers stoppin' strangers just to shake their hand (ooh-ooh)

Everybody's playing in the Heart of Gold band, Heart of Gold band (ooh-ooh)

Long-distance runner, what you standin' there for?

Caught in slow motion in a fall to the floor

Playing cold music on the barroom floor

Drowned in your laughter and dead to the core

There's a dragon with matches that's loose on the town

Takes a whole pail of water just to cool him down

Oh, fire, fire on the mountain!

Fire, fire on the mountain!

Fire, fire on the mountain!

Fire, fire on the mountain!

Almost ablaze, still you don't feel the heat

It takes all you got just to stay on the beat

You say it's a livin', we all gotta eat

But you're here alone, there's no one to compete

If mercy's a business, I wish it for you

More than just ashes when your dreams come true