Key of A but played with a capo on the second fret and fingered as if in the key of G (all chords listed below reflect this)
Constant up-down gentle strumming pattern throughout.

Phil Brown
David Mallett

[G]…and I knew a [C] painter, [D/F#] in my [Em] younger days
A [C]man who lived with brushes, sticks and [G]stones. [D/F#]
His [G] days were filled with [C]canvas scenes
Of [D] browns and blues and [Em]meadow greens
And the [Bm] world just [C] passed on by his [G]door
He [D]lived, but lived [G]alone.

And he'd come to [D]town with his [Em]old wool hat pulled [Bm]down
[C] Surrounded buy the [G]dogs that were his [D]friends
At [G] times too drunk to [D]stand, he'd [Em]shake familiar [Bm] hands
And [C]sit around the [G] Esso station 'til his [D] loneliness would [G] mend.

And I knew a painter, in my reckless days
Bristle-bearded, humble on his feet
A sympathetic, sad old elf,
He knew me better than I knew myself
In the last days of my boyhood
In my time upon the street

And long through the night
A faded yellow light
Would burn inside the room where he would stand
And play the old Victrola and drink his rusty wine
And conduct the Mozart music with his heart and shaking hand

[D] But he could paint a [C] picture, and [G] he could capture life
And [D] no one ever [C] felt things more than [G] he
[D] He was never [C] much for roses, he'd [G] rather (sooner) paint the [Em] thorns
'Cause he found a [C] keener beauty there that no one else could [D] see

Someone boarded up the house he lived in
Painted up the room he died in
Swept away the cobwebs and the dust from off the floor
The children laugh, the seasons run
Young lovers roll in midnight fun
But no one loves more that the one
Who paints the world no more

And all through the night
A faded yellow light
Would burn inside the room where he would stand
And play the old Victrola
And drink his rusty wine
And conduct the Mozart music
With his heart and shaking hand