Lyrics Harry Chapin

Harry Chapin

I Wanna Learn A Love Song

I come fresh from the street

Fast on my feet, kinda lean and lazy

Not much meat on my bones

And a whole lot alone, more than a little bit crazy

And the old six-string, was all I had

To keep my belly still

And for each full hour lesson I gave

I got a crisp, ten dollar bill

You see, she was married for seven years

To a concrete castle king

She said, she wanted to learn to play the guitar

And to hear her children sing

So, I'd show up about once a week

In my faded tight-legged jeans

With a backlog full of hobo stories

And dilapidated dreams

She said, "I wanna learn a love song

Full of happy things"

She said, "I wannalearn a love song

Won't you let me hear you sing?"

She said, "I wanna learn a love song

Wanna hear you play"

She said, "I, I wanna learn a love song

Before you go away"

So, I tried to teach her a couple of chords

And an easy melody

But it always turned out, she'd rather listen

To my guitar and me

I could hear her old man laughin' in the den

Playin' stud poker with the boys

While I sang so soft in the living room

Too scared to make much noise

I came one week and the den was dark

And she met me at the door

And we sat on the couch and we sang and talked

'Til I could not sing no more

You know, the silence kept on buildin'

And her eyes grew much too wide

I could hear both of our heartbeats

But there was no place to hide

She said, "I wanna learn a love song

Full of happy things"

She said, "I wanna learn a love song

Won't you let me hear you sing?"

She said, "I wanna learn a love song

Wanna hear you play"

She said, "I wanna learn a love song

Before you go away"

Guess, you know what happened

My God, I never been so clean

Yeah, I feel like I'm workin' in a Hollywood movie

Or livin' out a good bad dream

And all them pin-up girls in that tinsel world

Never touched me, like she can

It took another man's wife in the real world life

To make this boy, a man

She said, "I wanna learn a love song

Full of happy things"

She said, "I wanna learn a love song

Won't you let me hear you sing?"

She said, "I wanna learn a love song

Wanna hear you play"

She said, "I wanna learn a love song

Before you go away"

I guess you know, I stayed