Do you wanna take a little trip around the town with me?
I heard the word about a bird that sings so pretty all night and day,
They say he tells his story in a brand new way,
He got the rhythm!

Don't you want to be a genius and a real harmonic sleuth?
Bird found the truth:
To live a life of music is the fountain of youth.
Let's find it, too, before we're long in the tooth.

You want me to go with you way out yonder, just for chasin' a bird,
When we can be cozy here at home, dear?
I want daisies in green pastures from which we'll never roam
Stay with me darlin'!

Don't you want to pack the Cadillac with soda pop and snack?
We'll follow Jack, and stop at Jimmy's Chicken Shack right when we get back.
Let's go! You know we got to follow that bird!

It's a sunny day, why don't we play in Central Park,
Can't even find a cloud in the sky,
No need to stop for a sigh,
We got what money can't buy.

Say, we can stay all day out in the park, till after dark,
We'll listen to the sound of the lark.
He sings his pretty love song,
Why shouldn't we sing along?

Hey, that's a funny way to show you care,
It isn't fair to want me to go chasin' a bird, with hardly even a word,
I'll go, although it's absurd!

And so we packed up our nest,
We traveled way out west on the best.
We shuffled off on 66,
And then we headed down south,
Till we got to Kansas City.
We thought that we saw him!
Playing the blues,
And paying his dues
And tryin' so hard to fill Pres' great big shoes,
Cause he had nothin' to lose,
But we were too late, that bird had fled the gate.

So then we jumped back in our wheels
Longing to know just how it feels to hear Bird blow,
And really let go.
But in Chicago, crying Chitown isn't my town,
Bird flew straight back to New York.

We chased him uptown
Aboard the A train,
Then hastened back down,
We followed that bird to 52nd street.
He played so sweet,
They told us, at the Onyx and at The Famous Door.
But we didn't score, Yardbird was no more.
.

(Jack Kerouac reading, excerpt from On The Road':)
It was drizzling and mysterious at the beginning of our journey. I could see that it was all going to be one big saga of a mist. Whoopee!'' yelled Dean, here we go!
And he hunched himself over the wheel and gunned her he was back in his element, everybody could see that, we were all delighted, we all realized we were leaving confusion and nonsense behind and performing our one and noble function of the time.
MOVE. And we moved!
We flashed past the mysterious white signs in the night somewhere in New Jersey that say SOUTH (with an arrow) and WEST (with an arrow) and took the South one.
New Orleans! It burned in our brains. From the dirty snows of frosty fagtown New York,
as Dean called it, all the way to the greeneries and river smells of old New Orleans at the bottom of America: then west. Ed was in the back seat: Marylou and Dean and I sat in front, and had the warmest talk about the goodness and joy of life. Suddenly, Dean became tender.

Now damnit, look here, all of you, we all must admit that everything is fine and there is no need in the world to worry, and in fact we should realize what it would mean to UNDERSTAND that we're not really worried about ANYTHING. Am I right?
We all agreed. Here we go, we're all together. What did we do in New York? Let's forgive. We all had our spats back there. That's behind us, merely by miles and inclinations, now we're heading down to New Orleans to dig Old Bull Lee and ain't that going to be kicks-
and listen will you to this old tenorman blow his top, He shot up the radio volume till the car shuddered - and listen to him tell the story and put down true relaxation and knowledge.

Back in the apple, though we grappled Miles and Miles of Aisles
Chasin' The Bird.
We fin'ly heard that pretty bird sing his last lullaby at Birdland.
And after all that scrapplin', we simply found him in our backyard.


Now we got our pretty music and we got our happy home,
No more to roam.
But mostly we got rhythm when we open the door.
So, tell me, who could ask for anything more?

Now we know that there's no place like home, no more to roam.
And rhythm waits behind every door.
We know what livin' is for.
Who'd ask for anything more?