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 [bad word] 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  [bad word] 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