Stepping out to Angelucci’s
For my coffee beans
Checking out the movies and the magazines
Waitress she watches me
Crossing from the Barocco Bar
I get a pickup for my steel guitar
I saw you walking out Shaftesbury Avenue
Excuse me for talking, I wanna marry you
This is the seventh heaven street to me
Don’t you seem so proud
You’re just another angel
In the crowd, and I’m-

Walking in the wild west end
Walking in the wild west end
Walking with your wild best friend

Now my conductress on the number 19
She was a honey (she was a honey)
Pink toenails and hands all dirty with the money
Greasy, greasy, greasy hair, easy smile
She made me feel 19 for a while
I went down to Chinatown
In the backroom it’s a man’s world, all the money go down
Duck inside the doorway, duck to eat
Just ain’t no way
You and me, we can’t beat

Walking in the wild west end
Walking in the wild west end
Walking with your wild best friend

Darling, a gogo dancing girl
Yes, I saw her
The DJ he say, “Here’s Mandy for ya”, ha
I feel alright, saying now, do that stuff
She’s dancing high, I move on by
The close-ups can get rough, when you’re

Walking in the wild west end
Walking, walking, walking in the wild west end
Walking with your wild best friend

Walking, walking in the-

The lyrics are about a spiritual quest, typical of Morrison’s work. “Bass thrums like a boat in motion, and the song comes back to water as a means of magical transformation. At the very end Van sings: too late to stop now, suggesting that the song also describes an act of love.” (Wikipedia)

We were born before the wind
Also, younger than the sun
‘Ere the bonnie boat was won
As we sailed into the mystic

Hark now, hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly
Into the mystic

Yeah, when that fog horn blows
I will be coming home
Yeah, when that fog horn blows
I wanna hear it
I don’t have to fear it

And I wanna rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
Then magnificently we will float
Into the mystic

When that fog horn blows
You know I will be coming home
Yeah, when that fog horn whistle blows
I gotta hear it
I don’t have to fear it

And I wanna rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float
Into the mystic

Come on, girl

Too late to stop now

“Ooh La La” by the Faces (1973) contains a wish some of us make as we grow older.

Poor old Grandad
I laughed at all his words
I thought he was a bitter man
He spoke of women’s ways

“They trap you, then they use you
Before you even know
Well, love is blind and you’re far too kind
Don’t ever let it show”

I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was younger
I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was stronger

The can-can such a pretty show
Will steal your heart away
But backstage back on Earth again
The dressing rooms are grey

They come on strong and it ain’t too long
‘Fore they make you feel a man
But love is blind and you soon will find
You’re just a boy again

When you want her lips, you get her cheek
Makes you wonder where you are
If you want some more then she’s fast asleep
Leaves you twinkling with the stars

Poor young grandson, there’s nothing I can say
You’ll have to learn, just like me
And that’s the hardest way, ooh, la-la
Ooh, la-la-la-la, yeah

I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was younger
I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was stronger