In Honor Of You (George)

(album: The Bedroom Tapes - 2000)

How can I go on when every thought hurts
I flirt with the notion of no more songs
My old familiar foe, self pity, haunts me

I'm stuck in some over-the-mountain town
In a meaningless bar where fat hands
Round the steiners
And no one cares if it suns or pours
In an hour between trains
Barney puts the record on
And the aimless rise to dance

Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you
I see you, George, in your
Apartment on Riverside Drive
Some fifty years ago
Your fingers on the keys
Looking for the song
Looking for that hook

Embrace me, you irreplaceable you

Who were you then?
Did you have a woman?
Were you hard up for cash?
Did you ever know you'd be heard in
The middle distance
In some over-the-mountain town?

Connecting to the muscles of the dancers
In this close and smoky room
Who were you then?
Were you sure of your tune?
Or were your dreams and your courage all broken down like mine?

Now there's something that clutches the heart
A melody that stays
Year after year
I love all the many charms about you
Above all I want my arms around you

I'm already late for my train
But I don't think about that
I think of you, George
At your piano, sweating in the summer heat
By the way, did you get your girl,
Did you by your house in the country?
Did you wait for something that never came?
Did you die still waiting for your train?

Don't be a naughty baby, come to mama
Come to mama do

Some part of your heart twists and turns in mine
Your soul rises
There's an angel in charge
There's one note that weeps the truth
And makes my life mean something
Just for the length of
Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you
Embrace me, you irreplaceable you
Don't be a naughty baby, come to mama,
Come to mama do

I will go home, I will try again
I will catch the train
Catch another breath
Move back to the piano and
Let the notes do what they'll do
In honor of you, George
In honor of you