(Paul Cotton)

Down in the quarterpast anybody's bedtime
Anybody anywhere who was halfway out his mind
I was sittin' in a Rock and roll bar
Down from another
Just on up the line
I was talkin' with a new found friend
Who lived his life
On river time

He was holdin' my attention I could
Almost hear the sound
How he ran on the Mississippi on a tug
From the up and down
He was rollin' like the river he could have
Gone on night and day
But I caught myself in midturn and I
Never looked away and

Could it ever happen again
Time awaiting the answer then
Lost and found in the city, New Orleans

Questions in her dark eyes I felt
She already knew
The answers bringing no surprise
Like a Spanish moon
She was grown up on the music
I could only hear at home
When she spoke on of the song I sang
And how it made her feel
So much less alone
Pickin' out the pictures that the tune
Brought in to mind
How it came to me that all along the song was
Her for all time

Could it ever happen again
Time awaiting the answer then
Down in the quarter, New Orleans
Down in the quarter, New Orleans
Down in the quarter, New Orleans
Down in the quarter, New Orleans