Lyrics

One-Way Ticket to Baltimore

Got a one-way ticket to Baltimore
like Edgar Allan Poe.
And I shall leave there never more.
There’s nowhere else to go.
I sailed unto a distant shore.
My voyages were many.
I’m going back to Baltimore,
as good a place as any.

Oh Baltimore, my Baltimore,
my Kingdom by the sea.
And I shall dwell in Baltimore
until eternity…until eternity.

Along the Northeast Corridor
the traffic’s stop and go,
so when I come to Baltimore
I’ll ride the B&O.
Deboarding through the open door
at Pennsylvania Station,
I’m getting off at Baltimore,
my final destination.

Oh Baltimore, sweet Baltimore,
I cannot bear to wait.
I’ve got to get to Baltimore
before it is too late…before it is too late.

The sun goes down on Baltimore
as orange as an oriole.
It glows above the Western Shore
like glass inside the glory hole.
Is Baltimore a metaphor
for where my journey ends,
to be immured in Baltimore,
no more to see my friends?

Oh Baltimore, Lord Baltimore,
where I may find surcease.
Please bring me home to Baltimore
so I can rest in peace…so I can rest in peace.

From Camden Yards to Pimlico,
around the Beltway I will go.
From Linthicum to Lutherville,
Timonium to Millford Mill.

I asked the Prince of Elsinore,
“To be or not to be?”
But now I live in Baltimore.
It’s all the same to me.