All the Baptists pray
And the blue-haired ladies sing
For the crazy angels in paradise
Stripped of their wings tonight
All the shady cops
And the big-hipped girls parade
On a moonlight mile here in paradise
Where shadows and hearts collide
And I found out it's hard to make a living
Oh, in paradise the heart is unforgiving
This L.A. story
These L.A. times
That L.A. freeway
Flying by
This race is run
And we've paid the price
For losing faith
In paradise, in paradise, in paradise
All the souls in chains
And the slaves to love and pain
They sell sex and cars here in paradise
Flesh and wheels at any price
All your newsprint crawls
And your purists criticize
Here's the latest take on paradise
A singer burns his songs alive
And I found out it's hard to make a living
Oh, in paradise the heart is unforgiving
This L.A. story
These L.A. times
That L.A. freeway
Flying by
This race is run
And we've paid the price
For losing faith
In paradise, in paradise, in paradise