Altar Boy and the Thief lyrics

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

• Artist:Joan Baez
• Album:Blowin’ Away (1977)