Lyr Req: Yellow Coat (Steve Goodman)

Subject: 'Yellow Coat' A magic moment
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 21 Jun 03 - 02:13 PM

"Yellow Coat" is a tune written by Steve Goodman (N.B. I'm going over similar ground here to another recent posting of mine). It has the same theme as a number of songs e.g. " Funny How Times Slips Away" and " What's New", and takes the form of a man talking to an ex- lover/wife, but the listener only hears one side of the conversation. Steve's song is very well-crafted ( what else! ). At one point in the conversation the man asks, " Did you ever get to buy that yellow coat?". This is an absolute master touch. Obviously, just around the time the couple split up, the female had been admiring a yellow coat in a store window, and this small detail had stuck in the head of the man. It's little - but breathtaking -touches like that which separate your average songwriter from the greats. Has anyone out there got a favourite " magic moment" - something that changes a good song into a great song.

Subject: RE: 'Yellow Coat' The Real Deal
From: GUEST,LEJ
Date: 21 Jun 03 - 07:14 PM

Found a rug in an old junk shop
Brought it home for you
Loved the way the colors ran
The orange bled the blue

...Paul Simon

and my favorite line from "How Deep is the Ocean"

How many times a day do I think of you?
How many roses are sprinkled with dew?

Hearing Etta James sing that line makes my heart skip a beat every time.

Subject: ADD: Yellow Coat (Steve Goodman)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jun 03 - 07:53 PM

Gee, I'd never paid attention to those lyrics. Yes, it reminds me a lot of some past lovers, one in particular. I wonder if she's happy she chose him instead of me. I'm happy now - I hope she is.

-Joe Offer-

---

YELLOW COAT
(Steve Goodman)
As recorded by Steve Goodman on "Steve Goodman" (1999)

It's a long time since I saw you last. Tell me how you've been.
Did you ever get to buy that yellow coat?
Do the flowers in your window box still smile when you walk in?
Did you ever read the letters that I wrote?

And I've been on the road since Christmas but it don't seem so long.
Outside of that there isn't much to say.
I cut down on my drinkin' and I wrote another song.
I wish you wouldn't look at me that way.

Remember all the mornings that we walked around the park,
The nights we babysat for Billy's kids,
And all the time we used to talk of having one ourselves.
I don't remember why we never did.

Do your neighbors still complain a bit when the music gets too loud?
Does your old cat still sleep up on the bed?
Do you still walk around as if your head was in the clouds?
Have you heard a single thing I've said?

It's a two-day drive to New York. I guess I'd better go.
Did you notice that the weather's gettin' cold?
And it's a long time since I saw you last. Tell me how you've been.
Did you ever get to buy that yellow coat?
Did you ever get to buy that yellow coat?

Subject: RE: 'Yellow Coat' The Real Deal
From: Sorcha
Date: 21 Jun 03 - 09:24 PM

Hmmm, does this bear any relation to the little girl in the Red Coat in the Spielberg movie Schindler's List? Should, could.

Subject: RE: 'Yellow Coat' The Real Deal
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 22 Jun 03 - 02:09 PM

There's a song that the great English folksinger Nick Jones used to sing called "Master Kilby" in which a chap is declaring his love, and the songs finishes thus:- " It was down by the seashore I gave her some kisses , and still she lay asking, lay asking for more". I find that very "sexy", which is not a word I would use to describe many traditional folksong lyrics.