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G
I was painting a still life this morning
Am
Of a throat lozenge sitting on a copy
Of Tropic of Cancer
C
The only thing weird about it
D
Is that a year ago,
G
I never thought I'd paint anything again
G
I decided I wasn't ever gonna paint again
Am
It didn't bother me too much
Warhol's dead,
C
David Hockney's still alive
D G
I don't need to paint
G
I painted over ten thousand paintings
Am
Sad ones, funny ones, dark ones, and light ones
C
I've done haystacks
D
And rich old ladies by their pools
G
Wearing nothing but a scarf
G
I've painted everything there was to paint
Am
Now it was time to sit back
C
Give interviews, get on the internet
D
Hang out at club med
G
Take stock of what I've done
G
You know, the best friend I ever had was a dog
Am
It sounds like a cliche unless it's happened to you
C D G
Some days that dog was the only reason I even got out of bed
G
That dog went everywhere with me
Am
And then I heard the crack addicts
Were stealin' dogs and selling them for animal research
C
It sounded like an urban myth to me
D
Like the mouse in the Coke bottle
G
But I started leavin' her at home after that
G
You know, Paula was my wife for a while
Am
She ran off to Paris with the great grandson of Van Gogh
C D G
A cartoonist who did fashion graphics for Le Monde
G
When Paula left she took my dog
Am
I never saw her again
Except in the court during the custody battle
C D
She won and got to keep the dog
G
And I didn't speak to anyone for months
G
You know sometimes it feels
Bm
Like there's so much that you need
C Bm G
Sometimes the world is upside down
G
Sometimes it feels
Bm
Like the only thing you need
C Bm Am C G
Is holdin' someone's hand as you walk through town
G
I started hanging around with Dino
Am
He used to run a poker game back east
C D
Now he sells cappuccino to his old pals
G
Tommy Chicago and Jimmy the Wig and Ugly Rose
G
You know the best person I ever knew
Am
Was a Mormon woman named Estelle
She still calls me drunk every few months
C D
And asks me stuff I don't want to talk about
G
You can't talk to her very long unless you're drunk yourself
G Am C D G
Then we go all night
G
She says, 'Why baby, why baby, why baby, why
Am
Have you turned your back on love?
C
You had so many chances
D G
Why have you let 'em all go by?'
G
Well, one morning I was sitting in front of Dino's place
Am
with Jake the Shears, a guy from Philly
Who gives free mohawks
C
There were a couple of young painters
D
I was hopin' to come by
G
So I could give 'em some advice
G
Yeah, I was sittin' there updating my list of enemies
Am
When this girl walks in
And the universe kind of stops
C D
Turned out she drank the same tea as me
G
It don't take more than that to start a conversation sometimes
G
She believed collage was the greatest of all the arts
Am
And was busy pasting pictures of horses
C
Next to ads for laundry soap
D
Next to Mohammed Ali
G
She had a turquoise in her ear
G
And said Rachmaninoff was always in her head
Am
Later that day I was trying to describe her to Jimmy the Wig
C
I couldn't find any words
D G
And I realized I'd started to sketch her chin
G
Somehow it didn't look right
Am
I scratched it out and tried it again
C
I filled an entire pad
D G
I threw it away, I never even came close
G
For six days I sat at Dino's place
Am
The rain wouldn't quit and no one came in
C D
Finally on the seventh day it cleared
G
And in she walked
G
I asked her to sit with me
And I bought her a cup of tea
Am
And I asked her to model for me sometime
C
That afternoon I was at a canvas
D
She was wearing a yellow dress
G
I swore if she let me, I'd get it right
G
I've painted over ten thousand paintings
Am
Sad ones, funny ones, dark ones, and light ones
C D
But sitting there, it was like I couldn't even
G
Write my own name
G
I apologized and said, 'It's been a few months
Am
If you have patience, I'll get the hang of it again'
C D G
In the next few weeks, I painted her hundreds of times
G
If I get the nose right, the chin's too long
Am
If I get 'em both right, the face is too thin
C D
But I keep after it and one day
G
I get it all right
harmonica solo
G Am C D G
G Am C D G
G
I painted a still life this morning
Am
Of a throat lozenge
sitting on a copy of Tropic of Cancer
C
The only thing that's funny
D
Is I never thought
G
I'd paint anything again
G
I think I might go visit Estelle
Am
Those Utah mountains are good for the soul
C
I'll bring my brushes
D
And some Jack Daniels
G
And we can make up for lost time
G
She said, 'Why baby, why baby, why baby why?
Am
Have you turned your back on love
C
You had so many chances
D G
Why do you let 'em all go by?
G Am
Why baby, why baby, why baby why?
Have you turned your back on love
C
You had so many chances
D G
Why do you let 'em all go by?'
G Bm
Sometimes it seems like there's so much that you need
C Bm G
Sometimes the world is upside down
G Bm
Sometimes it seems like the only thing you need
C Bm Am C G
Is holdin' someone's hand as you walk through town
Written by Dan Bern