Downstairs they´re playing Kenton
The house set to swing
I lay in my bed
And listen to everything
Cause Leo´s in rare form tonight
His trombone sings so sweet
This is the room
Where they all come to meet

He said
I do what I can
I live for the moment
And that´s who I am
Yeah that´s who I am

And isn´t it good
If we could freeze moments in time
We all would
But I do what I can
I do what I can

Downstairs he´s playing Kenton
The Magnavox sighs
But oh how the music has changed
In all of our lives
He says "nobody listens
To modern jazz"
And I´ll never have what those guys have

He says
I do what I can
I work for a living
And that´s who I am
Yeah that´s who I am

And it´s good to be alive
But everything´s different since Leo died
I do what I can

Is this the end of the modern world
What could it mean for a young girl
Who sees the pain on his face
He does what he can

The procession on the TV screen
What could it possibly mean for a man
Who´s come this far just to turn around
Could there still be life in Kenton´s swing
With the Kennedys gone and everything
Those sad rows of houses with their optimistic colors
Democrat grandparents and draft-dodging brothers
Riots down the street and discontented mothers
We do what we can

Downstairs it´s quiet
Less alive somehow
Somehow he was everything that I am now

And he says
I do what I can
I work for a living
And that´s who I am
And that´s who I am

But it´s good to be alive
And these are the choices
We make to survive
You do what you can