The Ballad of Laughing Sal

She got into my cab
downtown at Mason and O'Farrell
I had my doubts about her,
'cause she wasn't wearing shoes
She knew what I was thinking,
she said,"Turn your meter on,
I know that time is money, son
that's why the poor ain't got no history.
Now take me to the Cliff House 'cause
I've got to meet the captain
the ship sails with the morning tide
there are some things we can't choose
Don't worry I'm gon' pay you,
here's a hundred dollar bill,
I am a Keeper of the Temple of the Broken Wind
And I guard the key to mystery."

"To Believe in me you don't have to
Don't need no leap of faith no how
What you really need is the laughter
And you can get it from Laughing Sal"

I wasn't really worried
Hell, I had the hundred dollars
drive a cab a couple years
believe me, nothin's ever strange
She said, "You look like DeNiro,
that don't mean that you believe
But faith is one thing you won't need
to see what happens in the everafter.
I'll show you when we get there
by the Camera Obscura
is the Musee Mechanique
all you need's a little change
Laughing Sal is inside
and she'll give you living proof
that there ain't no hell or heaven
what awaits us in the great beyond is laughter."

I asked her where she's going
and just who is this captain
was there anybody waiting
and did she plan to return
She said, "I do hate to admit
I left my head on Easter Island
high on a hill it waits for me
just staring out to sea like a stone statue.
Some times you get separated
from things you really need
and sometimes all you really need
is the need to really learn"
Then as she disappeared
into the night on the Great Highway
she said,"No matter where you are remember
Laughing Sal is right there laughing at you!"

"To Believe in me you don't have to
Don't need no leap of faith no how
What you really need is the laughter
And you can get it from Laughing Sal"