Released: May 22, 1982
Songwriter: Will Jennings Steve Winwood
Producer: Chris Blackwell Alex Sadkin
High above the heat of a summer New York street
An out-of-work musician plays a solo saxophone
He's a preacher and a teacher
And he stands up all alone
Stranded in the dark of a vision in the park
A poet in his madness tries to find another line
And he's losing and he's using
And he says he's doing fine
And they look from such a height
That somehow it's all right
They're talking back to the night
It's all that they can do
Talking back to the night
It's how they make it through
If you listen you can hear them
Their voices draw you near them
They're talking back to the night for you
Something seems to take every dime the man can make
His dream is getting smaller and he wonders where to turn
And he's trying hard to make it
And he's trying not to burn
Woman never minds, pulls the shade and draws the blinds
She takes him in the darkness where the loneliest can feed
She gives him all she has to
And it's no more than he needs
An out-of-work musician plays a solo saxophone
He's a preacher and a teacher
And he stands up all alone
Stranded in the dark of a vision in the park
A poet in his madness tries to find another line
And he's losing and he's using
And he says he's doing fine
And they look from such a height
That somehow it's all right
They're talking back to the night
It's all that they can do
Talking back to the night
It's how they make it through
If you listen you can hear them
Their voices draw you near them
They're talking back to the night for you
Something seems to take every dime the man can make
His dream is getting smaller and he wonders where to turn
And he's trying hard to make it
And he's trying not to burn
Woman never minds, pulls the shade and draws the blinds
She takes him in the darkness where the loneliest can feed
She gives him all she has to
And it's no more than he needs
more tracks from the album
From the albums
- Sheffield Steel (1982)
- The Essential Joe Cocker (1995)
Joe Cocker popular songs
- With a Little Help from My Friends
- You Are So Beautiful
- While You See a Chance
- Put Out the Light
- Edge of a Dream
- You Haven’t Done Nothin’
- Feels Like Forever (Theme from the ’Cutting Edge’)
- Do I Still Figure in Your Life?
- Ring Them Bells
- Catfish
- Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
- Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me
- I’ll Cry Instead
- Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me (2)
- You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
- Talking Back to the Night
- Just Like a Woman
- It’s a Sin When You Love Somebody
- The Man in Me
- Edge of a Dream (Theme from ’Teachers’)
- Human Touch
- Something
- I’ll Walk in the Sunshine Again
- So Good, So Right