Window-Washing Cowboy - Da Vinci's Notebook

Roy rode into Houston

On the fifteenth of July

They’d brought him in to help clean up the town

He worked the Exxon building

Down on 21st and Main

From the 42nd floor down to the ground

He worked without a scaffold

And he always worked alone

And everybody knew he was the best

People’d come from miles around

And stand down in the street

To watch the Fastest Squeegee in the West

Window-washing cowboy

Make ‘em shiny clean

Windex and a squeegee in your hand

You’ll never find another love like your sweet Marie

From Abilene down to the Rio Grande

Roy saw her there one morning

On the 37th floor

The nameplate on her desk just said «Marie»

He made sure he was cleaning

The second window from the right

Every Thursday at precisely 10: 03

He’d tap the glass and wave

And she’d look up and give a smile

Each time she did, his heart would swell with pride

And even though they’d never spoken once

Roy vowed to Heaven

That one day he’d make that sweet Marie his bride

It took him months, but Roy

Worked up the nerve to bare his soul

So up he went to ask her for her hand

And when he reached the window

There she was: his sweet Marie

Wrapped in the arms of the carpet-cleaning man

He hung there for a moment

As his poor heart broke in two

And all his hopes and dreams came crashing down

Then Roy unhitched his safety line

And, with a mournful cry

He raced his final teardrops to the ground

And so there ends the tragic tale

Of squeegee-slingin' Roy:

A lonely soul who loved and died in vain

He left his mark on Main Street

And no matter how they tried

They couldn’t scrub away that cowboy-colored stain

On Thursdays, people say

You still can see him up above

And the echoes of his final cry remain

And to this day, they tell the tale

Of the window-washing cowboy

He loved windows, but he couldn’t stand the pain…