You grip the wheel with knuckles pale and worn
Three decades of fares since you were born
The meter ticks a rhythm slow and torn
While Coltrane seeps from basement doors at dawn
Midnight fare you drive the blue hour deep
Jazz club glow paints silver on your cheek
Every passenger a story you keep
Chicago hums a lullaby unique
You know the cracks in every avenue
The potholes where the winter salt ate through
A saxophonist tips his hat to you
His case beats time on leather seat so blue
Midnight fare you drive the blue hour deep
Jazz club glow paints silver on your cheek
Every passenger a story you keep
Chicago hums a lullaby unique
The flash captures steering hands at rest
Cigarette ash blooms on vinyl chest
You navigate the city like a test
Where every red light yields a confession
Midnight fare you drive the blue hour deep
Jazz club glow paints silver on your cheek
Every passenger a story you keep
Chicago hums a lullaby unique
A couple argues in the back seat hush
Their words like coins in a tin can crush
You adjust the mirror, pretend to blush
The basement music makes the night plush
Dawn cracks the sky with pale guitar strings
Your shift ends where the elevated train sings
The camera rests but the shutter still clings
To moments caught in rearview mirror rings
You park the cab where morning coffee steams
The jazz club door exhales last saxophone dreams
Your pockets heavy with forgotten schemes
Chicago wakes to engine lullabies it seems
Midnight fare you drove the blue hour deep
Jazz club glow painted silver on your cheek
Every passenger a story you keep
Chicago hums a lullaby unique
Midnight fare the city falls asleep
Engine cools on Michigan Avenue
Negative strips develop in the blue
