Out of Pawn - Anaïs Mitchell

Hey uncle louie, I wrote you a song

I’m glad you got your heart out of pawn

I’m glad you got your king out of check

At least that’s how things stood when I saw you last

It was New Orleans before the flood

You had just met a girl!

you were falling in love!

She lived on the levee and knew the blues

And played harmonica better than you

In a neighborhood bar

In the middle of summer

Shoulder-to-shoulder

Setting like sister and brother

All of the sorrows you told each other

Rose like smoke from the room

The heat and the bourbon was in your head

You were talking in tongues!

you were back from the dead!

And the girl and the city were one and the same

And last call never came

And I can see you swimming out into the street

I can hear you singing, «when I die, don’t cry for me»

Hey uncle louie, the city is spinning

She sure is pretty.

you sure are grinning

She’s leading you home from the heat of the bar

To lie on the levee and look at the stars

You can hold her hand

You can kiss her face

Go slow if you can

Cause the world is a very sad place

And when she leaves she’ll leave no trace

And the world will still be there

The sky is colored in purple and yellow

You lie on the levee with stones for pillows

And you and the girl and the city make love

With the harlequin sky up above