My Clarinet

(album: Red Cab To Manhattan - 1980)

I should have stayed playing my clarinet
I coulda made it
I coulda made it
Playing big halls in an all-Negro band

I never should have left the town
That I knew so well
San Diego, can't you tell?
I could've made it
Playing my clarinet

I hang around people I used to gawk at
In magazines
I was fifteen
And it all seemed so far away

I'd get my kicks
From singing "Money" in an old garage
On Saranac Street
I'm tired and I'm scared
And I want to go home again

You probably think I'm kidding
And you're probably right
I feel like the "Z" in xylophone tonight
And I keep looking for an answer
But I can't put up a fight
It all seems so long ago
When I...

I should have stayed playing my clarinet
I coulda made it
I coulda made it
Playing big halls in an all-Negro band

I should have gone to college
Instead of watching TV
All day in my bathrobe
I could've made it
Playing my clarinet

I should have made it
Playing my clarinet...