Good evening! I'm Kenn Sava, the Denizen of NighthawkNYC.com. Welcome to my site. Here I am as you'll find me most times- out somewhere in NYC, listening to Music and looking at Art. Here, I’m standing in front of the REAL Nighthawks, Edward Hopper's Timeless Masterpiece from 1942, at the "old" Whitney Museum during the Hopper Drawing Show in 2013.

Standing there. I felt like I was standing next to my soul. It's me. Well, that figure, sitting with his back to us is. As much as any work of Art I've ever seen is...

"That shape is my shade
There where I used to stand."*

What? I explain here. I named this site NighthawkNYC in homage to Hopper’s immortal Painting, and that figure that no one ever talks about. Anyway...Art and Music are my twin passions, and have been for a very long time. I started NighthawkNYC to share what I've discovered along the way- as Steely Dan put it so well ..."Sensations that stagger the mind."*

But? I'm not going to stop there, so hold on to your stool, and let's see what the night brings. And, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on anything you'll wake up tomorrow and wish you hadn't.

*-from "Deacon Blues" by Steely Dan's Donald Fagen & Walter Becker, published by Universal Music Publishing Group

Forgotten Songs I Will Love Forever, #1- Rickie Lee Jones’s Last Chance Texaco

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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

Part One of a New & Occasional Series…the other parts are here.

In no particular order.

“Last Chance Texaco” Written & Performed by Ricki Lee Jones on her immortal debut album, Rickie Lee Jones, 1979.

40 years on, it sends a chill down my spine every damn time I hear it.

Performed in 1979-

Lyrics-

A long stretch of headlights
Bends into I-9
Tiptoe into truck stops
And sleepy diesel eyes
Volcanoes rumble in the taxi
And glow in the dark
Camels in the driver’s seat
A slow, easy mark

But you ran out of gas
Down the road a piece
Then the battery went dead
And now the cable won’t reach…

It’s your last chance
To check under the hood
Last chance
She ain’t soundin’ too good,
Your last chance
To trust the man with the star
You’ve found the last chance Texaco

Well, he tried to be Standard
He tried to be Mobil
He tried living in a world
And in a shell
There was this block-busted blonde
He loved her – free parts and labor
But she broke down and died
And threw all the rods he gave her

But this one ain’t fuel-injected
Her plug’s disconnected
She gets scared and she stalls
She just needs a man, that’s all

It’s her last chance
Her timing’s all wrong
Her last chance
She can’t idle this long
Her last chance
Turn her over and go
Pullin’ out of the last chance Texaco
The last chance

Performed in 1985-

For Zette.

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full-length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

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