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