Night cab rolls down Michigan Avenue
Rain slicks the pavement black and blue
Brass key rests on cracked concrete stair
Jazz club breathes cool basement air
Driver watches from his steel cage
Thirty years of wage and age
Key catches amber neon glow
No door exists for it to know
Brass key Chicago night
Hums a tune without a light
Turns in locks that never were
Sings a song no door heard
Saxophone bleeds through stone wall
Key don't care for locks at all
Taxi meter ticks slow time
Fare is paid in rhythm rhyme
Brass key Chicago night
Hums a tune without a light
Turns in locks that never were
Sings a song no door heard
Copper teeth bite empty air
No latch waits waiting there
Driver shifts to park and stare
Key keeps turning unaware
Morning pulls the night apart
Key still beats in driver's heart
Engine coughs and pulls away
Brass stays where the shadows play
Next fare asks where the music went
Driver smiles with pavement scent
Some keys open doors unseen
Chicago knows what locks can mean
Brass key Chicago night
Hums a tune without a light
Turns in locks that never were
Sings a song no door heard
Brass key turns in basement air
Driver drives with nothing there
