Tony Lee Thomas: Music

Chapters

(Tony Lee Thomas)

2006

I met so many people living in bars the way a bartender/musician does. These are some of their stories, don't they sound familiar?

Chapters

We set out to make our fame and fortune,
Save the world along the way,
But no one told me that my dreams were mortal.
I wanted just to hear you play,
To hear you play.
I always had a soft spot for women
Who could sing away the night.
Something happens in your heart if you listen
That makes your troubles seem alright
And they seem alright.

Chorus
So tonight we can share this shelter
And build a slow burning fire out on the side
I would gladly trade this wine
For a chapter of your tale cause lord knows
I’ve had enough of mine
I’ll take a piece of you with me
Until the end of time

Verse2

I was with my buddy Niel in his kitchen.
We shed our dreams and became men.
Then he said,
‘If I could set foot on the trail head in Georgia,
I would not rest until the end.’
Until the end
But these are thoughts we keep in master bedroom closets
To keep the job, the wife, the kid
And I have nothing but respect for him
Cause that’s one thing I never did
I never did

So I told him about the Appalachian mountains.
We flicked our ashes in the sink.
It’s a lot like any other trail you walk down,
It’s so much longer than you think.
And I still think

CHORUS

I was tending bar up in this local dive,
And she’d come in and drink a few
She was caught up in this ten year conversation
Between Kerouac and Bukowski too.
She said,
‘I know you don’t remember me baby,
But I sure remember you.
I gained some weight and they stopped calling me Susie,
These days it’s mostly just Sue.’

She said I was just too young to understand her,
As if I’d never dug a hole.
The kind you desperately claw your way out of
Before it swallows up your soul.
I heard she went out to the islands with her trouble
To feel the earth without her shoes.
But you can never really outrun your troubles
So that’s when I learned to sing the blues
I still sing the blues

CHORUS