I was grinding through my day gig   Stackin' cutouts at the Strand   When in walks Franny from NYU   We were quite an item back then   We talked about her films and shows and CDs   And I don't know what else   She said, yeah, Hollywood's been good to me   But tell me - how about yourself      CHORUS:   I'm still working on that novel   But I'm just about to quit   'Cause I'm worrying about the future now   Or maybe this is it   It's not all that I thought it would be   What a shame about me      She said, talk to me, do you ever see   Anybody else from our old crew   Bobby Dakine won the Bunsen Prize   Now he's coming out with something new   Alan owns a chain of Steamer Heavens   And Barry is the software king   And somebody told me in the early 80's   You were gonna be the Next Big Thing      CHORUS:   Well now that was just a rumor   But I guess I'm doin' fine   Three weeks out of the rehab   Living one day at a time   Sneaking up on the new century   What a shame about me      What a shame about me   I'm thinking of a major Jane Street sunrise   And the goddess on the fire escape was you      We both ran out of small talk   The connection seemed to go dead   I was about to say, hey, have a nice life   When she touched my hand and said:   You know I just had this great idea   This could be very cool   Why don't we grab a cab to my hotel   And make believe we're back at our old school      CHORUS:   I said babe you look delicious   And you're standing very close   But like this is Lower Broadway   And you're talking to a ghost   Take a good look it's easy to see   What a shame about me   What a shame about me