Donovan’s Doorway

Lyrics

There is a stray dog lapping at the kerb-side pool
Hear the tap, tap, tapping from a tap-dance school
The teacher keeps the beat
To the old sheet music
They keep in the piano stool And in Donovan’s doorway
There’s a man with a night stick
To keep us from playing the fool
And in Donovan’s doorway
There’s a man with a night stick
And he’s just applying the rules

There’s fine rain falling past a tall flood-light
For some fine foot-balling on a week-day night
The players all drive up
In limousines
To pull on the red and the white

And in Donovan’s doorway
There’s a man with a night-stick
He’s watching from his left to his right
And in Donovan’s doorway
There’s a man with a night-stick
He’s keeping us well in his sights

And he could walk this road all night
And we could talk it out till the very first light
And we could start from the slightest suggestion
But the odds are against us
Making much progress
Because it’s not just the night that’s in question…

There’s a church converted to a hard-ware store
There’s no-one on this street who don’t know the score
Two hearts entwined
‘Mick’ and ‘Caroline’
On a poster that says, ‘Help the Poor’

And in Donovan’s doorway
There’s a man with a night-stick
He asks me what I’m looking for

And in Donovan’s doorway
There’s a man with a night-stick
He asks me what I’m looking for

And in Donovan’s doorway
There’s a man with a night-stick
And he’s just upholding the law

Song Description

A scene in Liverpool: A dog laps from a puddle, there’s a tapping noise coming from a dancing school. It’s the dancing teacher, who keeps the beat to the music, which is kept under the old piano stool. In the entrance to Donovan’s shop (a small corner shop) stands a policeman with a big truncheon, bigger than is normal in other English cities. He’s on the lookout for rioters, because on this wet evening there’s a football game going on. The players all drive up in big limousines, the fans have to walk. We could walk on this road all night and talk about all sorts of things. But it doesn’t look good for us, because it doesn’t hang on the game that’s on tonight, but about the situation in general, and that is bad: even the church has been converted into a hard-ware store. Everyone knows the score. But on poster with the slogan ‘Help the poor’, someone has drawn two hearts, and the names Mick and Caroline.

Versions

• AStudio Version (3:08)
• BStudio Version (3:15)

Appears On