The Baron and The Busker by Peter Bond

It's the longest running play of all
Expectant people line the wall
The busker's playing tunes he used to march to on parade
And high above the theatre queue
The rich man gazes at the view
And thanks his Gods that he has made the grade
Ladies chatter cheerily, brandy flows around
The rich man draws the velevet curtain shutting out the sound

Ch
Slowly, Slowly turns, Slow turns the wheel
Still it turns

Down below across the square
Down a thousand miles of love and care
The busker's bright but broken tune floats up the foggy street
Now and then he takes a rest
To cough the weather off his chest
And gather up the coins around his feet
His hands upon the clarinet too cold to feel the keys
Dance out their melancholy air of merry misery

I knew a man who used to care
He sat all day in the same old chair
His eyes were sunken in his face like pebbles in the snow
He remembers nineteen twenty six
And now we're in the same old fix
Good God he'd say by now you think they'd know
And like a spluttering gas lamp he slowly flickers down to die
His missis understood his moods and so at last do I


That has been written out from memory so I'll check it when I get home and I'll add some chords as well. I get funny looks when I start singing in the office and I haven't got my guitar with me!

Having chatted with Peter recently, he loves people doing his songs but he would like people to get the correct words. He says there are one or two songs of his being sung that do not have the right words. This one is from his LP called "It's all right for some" released about 1975/76 on the Trailer/Leader label and I gather it's the first song he wrote. The last verse is about his Grandad.

Cheers
Mark