This city’s not so bad
By the light of a love affair
The way the spring rain will sweep in
And scrub all the dirt out of the air

And suddenly, you can see snow-capped peaks
High above the San Gabriel Valley
And the hills and dales of Eagle Rock
Might as well be Chamonix

And those tall buildings with the bank names on them
They’re almost pretty as the sun sinks down
Peach-lit and gleaming
Monuments to greed and power

From up here, on the edge of Mt. Wilson
Laying in the back of your truck
All that glass and steel downtown’s just ambiance
And atmosphere to us

I was just about to leave when I met you
I thought I had about as much as I could take
But all I needed was someone worth thinking about
While I was pouting on the interstate

Nothing’s as pretty as a taco stand
Strung up with a garland of bare light bulbs
Above a steaming griddle full of corn tortillas
When everywhere else is closed

And the kamikaze clouds of the parakeets
The sweet, sweaty smell of the pepper trees
All of it’s a payoff
If you stick around long enough to see

And that long drive on the 210 East
Through the gauntlet of San Bernardino County
All those faux-adobe shopping malls, tract homes, and big rig stalls
Used to drive me nuts

And these four lanes of brake lights, inching through Azusa
Used to would’ve had me pulling out my hair
But now if I squint, they sort of look like roses
In the light of a love affair