Only Words and Music

Well, I warned you a while back that another lyric poem was coming. Duck your heads, 'cause here it comes.
I wrote this lyric as a kind of tribute to my favorite musical storyteller, the late Harry Chapin. It's a narration by a singer/songwriter who was never satisfied with his work. But something finally changed all that. It was that special woman. (What a surprise!)

Only Words and Music

All my life I've tried so hard
To find words to express
The kind of love that life's about
The one true love we quest

And all the tunes I've written
Could never quite convey
The perfect kind of melody
For what the words might say

My little ditties pleased some folks
My record sales were strong
But they were always tunes to me
I never wrote a song

Only words and music
In vinyl or CD's
Never really telling folks
The thoughts inside of me

Then somehow you came to me
In answer to a prayer
Just when life seemed loneliest
You suddenly were there

And then I wrote this music
And wrote these lyrics too
Only words and music
They became a song through you

A song to end my loneliness
A song to see me through
Not a ditty
Not a tune
But a song because of you

Only words and music
Thrown together in an hour or two
But the feeling here inside of me
Is a song because of you

Steven Pein
July 1994
Copyright 1994
.