The train tracks by the Arthur Kill
Are overgrown with weeds
And the gypsum mill’s been closed for years
There ain’t nothing there to see
The houses up on Bay Street are in
Constant disrepair
The paint just gets a little shabbier
Year by god damn year
Plaid skirted schoolgirls cast their gaze
At the hill above the trees
And wonder who lives behind the gables in
The mansion by the sea
 
Joey Rucco was a toker in a
Duplex in Bay Ridge
He’d hang out with his buddies by the
Verazzano Bridge
Sure he’d flunked outta high school but he
Knew he’d be Ok
See a six pack and a bag of weed kept him
Smiling all day
Till he met up with a sweetie from
Over Bensonhurst
He said "wanna go to my place?" and she said
"Let’s do a doobie first."
Now there’s a mortgage and a mini van and a
Kid who’s almost three
He lives on Bay Street in the shadow of
The mansion by the sea
 
Down on Bowery and Delancy when the
Night is getting late
A ten dollar whore asks "baby, you maybe
Wanna date?"
She pulls a prophylactic and a
Wad of grimy cash
From the waist band of her pantyhose as she
Tugs them off her ass
While somewhere a cat is howling, you can
Hear him for a mile,
The whore presents her backside, and she
Crouches with a smile
She says "the only things that keeps me just as
Good as I can be
Is my dream of someday living in a
Mansion by the sea."
 
Joanne Vitorelli never really caught a break
Her father was a wise guy who was
Always on the take
And when it came to romance her
Love life was the worst
See Joey up and left her for some
Skank in Bensonhurst
And night school was a washout, she just couldn’t hack the work
She thought she’d end up marrying some
Dumbass Guinea jerk
Till one day she met Mario, as
Charming as could be
Now Joanne wears furs and drinks champagne in her
Mansion by the sea
 
Now as morning sun is rising,
The hooker’s headed home
She’s tired and her feet hurt,
And she’s cold down to the bone
Joanne wakes up and looks into the
Mirror with a sigh
She wonders if she’s gonna need some
Botox round the eyes
Joey’s had his scrambled eggs and
Kissed the wife already
He’s gotta drop the kid off for
Preschool at Saint Mary’s
In the parking light he flicks a match, tokes up and
Starts to dream
Then he hides the roach and drives away
From the mansion by the sea
 
Baby, meet me down at Fort Green Park, say
Quarter past eleven
We’ll walk hand in hand to Junior’s where the
Cheesecake tastes like heaven
Wear that tube top that I love and wear those
Little pink barrettes
And your corkies with the ribbons, they’ve never
failed to thrill me yet
We’ll take the midnight Ferry
Out into the bay
Past Robin’s Reef, I’ll hold you as the
Ferry starts to sway
To Saint George where the neon lights are
Bright as they can be
And we’ll look across the Arthur Kill
To the mansion by the sea