Up On The Shelf - Harry Chapin

I used to play the trumpet once but now I play guitar

Somebody told you it’s more mellow

Well I’ve played a lot of music since but I really haven’t grown that far

Somebody said that you’re just yellow

So I keep it up on the shelf

And it’s funny how you keep it all to yourself

Hey honey, could there ever be

Should there ever be

Could there ever be something else?

You know I used to swing my silver sword, the dragons hit the ground

Whatever happened to the maidens?

Well I’d swing my silver sword again and they would all fall down

Would you leave them lying there where you had laid them?

And I used to have a country once, where it’s gone I do not know

Where do you think you might have lost it?

I used to raise the flag at dawn, but that was very long ago

Maybe you can find it where you tossed it

Well I tossed it up on the shelf

And it’s funny how you’ve kept it all for yourself

Hey honey, could there ever be

Should there ever be

Could there ever be something else?

I used to say my prayers boys, I used to sing the hymns

Even the echo’s disappearing

They’ve broken the stained windows, the cathedral’s getting dim

Then what is this dirge that we are hearing?

Well it comes from up on the shelf

And it’s funny how you sing it only for yourself

Hey honey, could there ever be

Should there ever be

Could there ever be something else?

Well, I used to have a lover once, I used to have a friend

How in the hell you ever find one?

My song is almost over now, my story’s at an end

You lived yourself a good life but a blind one

Well I’ve hidden there up on the shelf

And it’s funny how you’ve kept it all for yourself

Hey honey, could there ever be

Should there ever be

Could there ever be something else?