All your folks back home, I'll never tell you this
You're not supposed to know where your daughter is
There are ways of life you never understood
It's right here, downtown Hollywood
It's afternoon on Sunset Boulevard
I've got a stolen moment, trying hard
To write a kind of Christmas card
But I am burning out again
Tonight there's fever in my veins
Mama, dear, all the love you gave
I guess there's really nothing, nothing much to save
This place is as sturdy as I feel myself
There are still some riches at the Roosevelt
That evening prayer, those memories
In my little bedroom, Mama, on my knees
That's where I'm at, down in Los Angeles
And I am burning out again
And I must rise above the shame
Tonight there's fever in my veins
Oh
Just think of the girl I used to be
You were my age once, Mama, twenty-three
Oh, I can still hear some of the songs you used to play
From that summer of love in sixty-eight
Seems to turn into a winter of hate
And I am burning out again
And I must rise above the pain
Tonight there's fever in my veins
Tonight there's fever in my veins
Oh
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