[Verse 1]
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

[Chorus]
And 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
I do what I can
I do what I can"

[Verse 2]
Downstairs he's playing Kenton
The Magnavox sighs
And 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"
[Chorus]
And he said
I do what I can
I work for a living
And that's who I am
That's who I am
And it's good to be alive
But everything's different
Since Leo died
I do what I can

[Verse 3]
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
[Bridge]
Downstairs it's quiet
Less alive somehow
Somehow, he was everything that I am now

[Chorus]
And he said
"I do what I can
I work for a living
And that's who I am
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"