The History of Excuses

I got a book of photographs from old Sing Sing
They used to say upstate, and that's what they'd mean
It's such a pretty name for such an awful place
And every page you're looking at another blank face
And you know, you had to find a way to pass time
And that's what I've been doing for a while now, baby
I've been marking each day with a line on the wall
And waiting by the telephone to take that call
And you try to change my mind, but find it's useless
'Cause you know too well the history of excuses
Look at them cling to their political machine
That can jingle their coffers like old Boss Tweed
And they jiggle the handles and juggle the books
'Cause there's hatches to batten and buttons to hook
And you know, I wish that I could change it with a vote
But I never found myself on the right side of the polls
I got a dream, well, I'm out in the open
And there's mountains and trees and the smell of the ocean
I try to change my mind, but find it's useless
'Cause you know too well the history of excuses
And now I'm riding on a Hudson River train
I'm at the window as we're passing by the Rockefeller Estate
I used to buy up all the houses just to clear 'em away
'Cause they cluttered the view of the far Palisades
Now I came by one house, let alone a valley full
And my only view is of some blank wall
I get so tired of being confined
And waiting around in holes, I got doing time
And I try to change my mind, about to choose this
'Cause you know too well the history of excuses