THE ALTAR BOY AND THE THIEF 
Joan Baez


At night in the safety of shadows and numbers 
Seeking some turf on which nothing encumbers 
The buying and selling of casual looks 
Stuff that gets printed in x-rated books 
Your mother might have tried to understand 
When you were hardly your daddy's little man 
And you gave up saluting the chief 
To find yourself some relief 

Finely plucked eyebrows and skin of satin 
Smiling seductive and endlessly Latin 
Olympic body on dancing feet 
Perfume thickening the air like heat 
A transient star of gay bar fame 
You quit your job and changed your name 
And you're nearly beyond belief 
As you hunt down a little relief 

The seven foot black with the emerald ring 
Broke up a fight without saying a thing 
As the cops cruised by wanting one more chance 
To send Jimmy Baldwin back over to France 
And a trucker with kids and a wife 
Prefers to spend half of his life 
In early Bohemian motif 
Playing pool and getting relief 

My favorite couple was looking so fine 
Dancing in rhythm and laughing in rhyme 
In the light of the jukebox all yellow and blue 
Holding each other as young lovers do 
To me they will always remain 
Unshamed, untamed, and unblamed 
The altar boy and the thief 
Grabbing themselves some relief 

The altar boy and the thief 
Catching a little relief