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Tenderness On The Block Lyrics
Mama, where's your pretty little girl tonight
Trying to run before she can walk - that's right
She's growing up
She has a young man waiting
She's growing up
She has a young man waiting
Wide-eyes
She'll be street-wise
To the lies
And the jive talk
She'll find true love
And tenderness on the block
Daddy, don't you ask her when she's coming in
And when she's home don't ask her where she's been
She's going out
She has a young man waiting
She's going out
Can't keep her young man waiting
She'll be okay
Let her have her day
It's a long way
It's a long walk
She'll find true love
And tenderness on the block
I know how much it hurts to see her go
She has a mind of her own, you know
She's all grown up
She has a young man waiting
She's all grown up
She has a young man waiting
She was wide-eyed
Now she's street-wise
To the lies
And the jive talk
She'll find true love
And tenderness on the block
She'll find true love
And tenderness on the block
Trying to run before she can walk - that's right
She's growing up
She has a young man waiting
She's growing up
She has a young man waiting
Wide-eyes
She'll be street-wise
To the lies
And the jive talk
She'll find true love
And tenderness on the block
And when she's home don't ask her where she's been
She's going out
She has a young man waiting
She's going out
Can't keep her young man waiting
She'll be okay
Let her have her day
It's a long way
It's a long walk
She'll find true love
And tenderness on the block
She has a mind of her own, you know
She's all grown up
She has a young man waiting
She's all grown up
She has a young man waiting
She was wide-eyed
Now she's street-wise
To the lies
And the jive talk
She'll find true love
And tenderness on the block
She'll find true love
And tenderness on the block
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This is a beautiful song about parents coming to grips that their daughter is growing up faster than they would like (trying to run before she can walk), and that it is time for them to let go. She wants to go out with her young man and experience life on her own. They're worried she's not ready and she's going to get hurt, and they would rather she wait until she is better prepared. They still see her as a child. The beauty of these lyrics is that the song doesn't present the parents as completely wrong. She isn't ready and she is going to get hurt. But what the parents need to realize is that is the point. She won't get ready for life by staying at home, and they can't always be there to protect her. She needs to get out and experience life, having her day. She'll get hurt, but she'll get over it and learn from it on the long walk of growth to adulthood.
This song is covered at the end of "Sliding Doors" the Gwynneth Paltrow film.
Knowing the sarcastic nature of most of Zevon's lyrics, I assumed it was about teenage prostitution. Makes it seem not quite so bad, eh?
This is one of the most honest and beautiful songs ever written. A bitter and sarcastic song about a good-natured guy sick of living up to the Unrealistic expectations of the rich snobby parents of his girlfriend For so long they controlled and manipulated her into ignoring him Going for the richer or more socially graceful boy Or the boy who was the same religion or whatever... it could be anything. But now she's old enough to make her own decisions And she chooses the boy that loves her, as dirt-poor and angry as he is And there's nothing her hoity-toity parents can do about it.
Blood might be thicker than water But true love is thicker than blood