Leave the bright blue door on the whitewashed wall
Leave the death ledger under City Hall
Leave the joyful air in that rubber ball today

Just leave the lilac print on the linen sheet
Leave the birds you killed at your father's feet
Let the sideways rain and the crooked street remain

'Cause everything, it must belong somewhere
There's a train off in the distance, a bicycle chained to the stairs
Everything, it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here

Leave the ocean's roar in the turquoise shell
Leave the widower in his private hell
Leave the liberty in that broken bell today

Just leave the epic poem on its yellow page
Leave the gray macaw in his covered cage
Let the traveling band on the interstate remain

'Cause everything, it must belong somewhere
Soundstage in California, televisions in Times Square, yeah
Everything, it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
Yeah, I know that now, that's why I'm staying here

In truth, the forest hears each sound
Each blade of grass as it lies down
The world requires no audience, no witnesses, no witnesses

Leave the novelist in his daydream tune
Leave the scientist in her Rubik's Cube
Leave the true genius in the padded room today

Leave the hot, white trash in the shopping malls
Leave the hawks of war in their capitals
Let the organ's moan in the cathedral remain

'Cause everything, it must belong somewhere
They locked the devil in the basement, threw God up into the air, yeah
Everything, it must belong somewhere
I know it's true, I wish you'd leave me here
Yes, you know it's true, why don't you leave me here?