Saturday, July 20, 2013

Turn the Page (redux)


On a long and lonesome weekday
East of Arkansas
You can listen to the ink pen
Drawin' out words much too long
You can think about the people
Or the plots you wrote the night before

But your thoughts will soon be wandering
The way they always do
When you're typin' sixteen hours
And hardly have a clue
And you don't feel much like readin',
You just wish the book was through

Here I am
On the page again
There I am
Stuck in a cage
Here I go
Playin' god again
There I go
Turn the page

Well you walk into a convention,
Your shoulders heavy and bowed
And you feel the eyes glaze over you
As you go where you're told
You pretend everyone knows you
But your soul is just hollowed

Most times you don't hear 'em talk,
'Cause you haven't got a fan
You want to set the world ablaze,
But there doesn't seem any way you can,
And you never sell a book,
Go home without shaking a hand.

Here I am
On the page again
There I am
Feeling my age
Here I go
Playin' author again
There I go
Turn the page

In here in the blacklight
You never see the day,
Lacking any energy
You try to stay awake
As the fingers tap out a story
Another that won't pay.

Later in the evening
As you lie awake in bed
With the rustle of the keyboard
Tickin' in your head
You drink the day's last bourbon,
Rememberin' what characters said.

Here I am
On the page again
There I am
Stuck in a cage
Here I go
Playin' god again
There I go
Turn the page

Here I am
On the page again
There I am
Feeling my age
Here I go
Playin' author again
There I go
Turn the page
There I go
There I go

(my apologies to Bog Seger ... please don't sue me, Bob)

4 comments:

  1. Ouch, man. This one hurts. Telling me the story of my life out there in bald print. Never thought of it but this song is a great fit for a writer, at least for those of us who toil in obscurity.

    I was thinking about this kind of thing this morning. Woke up thinking I sure could use a "sign" from somewhere that all this damn writing is worthwhile.

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  2. Ha! Sorry if I sent the wrong kind of "sign."

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  3. You're 2 for 2 with these. And Charles, it is worthwhile.

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  4. Keith, glad you liked it. I'll probably only do the 2, at least any time soon. 2 is fun, more becomes a shtick.

    Hmm, then again, "House of the Rising Pun" has a nice ring to it ... naah! Forget it, Ty!

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