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Joni Mitchell — Chinese Cafe/Unchained Melody
Album: Hits
Avg rating:
7

Your rating:
Total ratings: 245









Released: 1982
Length: 5:16
Plays (last 30 days): 0
Caught in the middle
Carol we're middle class
We're middle aged
We were wild in the old days
Birth of rock 'n' roll days
Now your kids are coming up straight
And my child's a stranger
I bore her
But I could not raise her
Nothing lasts for long
Nothing lasts for long
Nothing lasts for long

Down at the Chinese Cafe
We'd be dreaming on our dimes
We'd be playing "Oh my love, my darling"
One more time

Uranium money
Is booming in the old home town now
It's putting up sleek concrete
Tearing the old landmarks down now
Paving over brave little parks
Ripping off Indian land again
How long how long
Short sighted business men
Ah nothing lasts for long
Nothing lasts for long
Nothing lasts for long

Down at the Chinese Cafe
We'd be dreaming on our dimes
We'd be playing "You give your love, so sweetly"
One more time

Christmas is sparkling
Out on Carol's lawn
This girl of my childhood games
With kids nearly grown and gone
Grown so fast
Like the turn of a page
We look like our mothers did now
When we were those kids' age
Nothing lasts for long
Nothing lasts for long
Nothing lasts for long
Down at the Chinese Cafe
We'd be dreaming on our dimes
We'd be playing
"Oh my love, my darling
I've hungered for your touch
A long lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love to me"
(Time goes - where does the time go
I wonder where the time goes)
Comments (13)add comment
"My child's a stranger. I bore her, but I could not raise her."

When the album was first released, I thought this was her talking about her inability to be an effective parent. Of course, we later found out she'd given her child up for adoption....
great sounds thank you! chilled by northwest winds today it's 12 degrees fahrenheit out there, freeze you gonads off
so amazing.  so , so amazing
That moment when you hear lyrics and you know you know them, but they don't quite match the song, but still sound right...
So how does this come on just as I'm reading the New Yorker article about Yaffe's book? Ah, Radio Paradise!  (btw, you should list the album as Wild Things Run Fast - it fits in there. 
Adding Joni Mitchell to the long list of artists Radio Paradise has lead me to fall in love with...
I love Joni so much.  It's all HITS—no misses as far as I'm concerned!
{#Cheers}
God like artist  : )       beautiful music
There is no one like Joni.
Wow, hearing this tune all of a sudden reminds me of these years. Amazing how quality music remains linked to events and emotions. {#Music}
cool.. 
Great tune. Would be a great addition to any set.