Counselor

[Intro: kompa guitars and cymbal bell groove, instrumental] [Verse 1] Fifteen years in Port-au-Prince, they called me Maitre down the hall I wore the robe in August heat, and I could quote you every law Then I flew north to Montreal with my diploma in a tube But the paper didn't cross the water, only I came through Now it's dark on Cote des Neiges, and the plows are scraping by And I drive a cab from four to noon, and nobody asks me why [Verse 2] Every morning, six fifteen, a student waves me at the gate Camille, a coffee, and the civil code, three thousand articles of weight She reads it out loud down the mountain, contracts, obligations, liens Then one day at the light on Sherbrooke she gets one wrong, and I intervene I say, pardon, mademoiselle, it's the debtor, not the creditor, read it again And she looks up in the mirror, and she says, monsieur, how do you know that, then [Pre-Chorus] Different book (different book) The same old French bones Two hundred years of the same idea Written down in two different homes [Chorus: female answers] Morning, counselor (morning, counselor) From the mountain to the courthouse door Morning, counselor (morning, counselor) I'm a lawyer for the ride and nothing more Different book, same bones Morning, counselor [Verse 3] Now she calls me counselor, and she reads, and I answer, every day Article by article through January slush and February gray The morning of the bar exam, I leave the meter off the whole way down And I wait four hours at the curb, the proudest driver in this town [Pre-Chorus] Different book (different book) The same old French bones Two hundred years of the same idea Written down in two different homes [Bridge: groove drops to bass and cymbal bell, spoken female] Monsieur Wilner Why do you drive [Spoken male] The paper didn't cross the water [Spoken female] But you did [Verse 4: full band returns] In June she passes, and the morning after she is sworn She hands me back a folder, and inside it, the Barreau form She says, the paper didn't cross the water, but the lawyer did, so learn Now she quizzes me at every light on Saint Denis, and it's my turn [Final Chorus: female answers] Morning, counselor (morning, Maitre) From the mountain to the courthouse door Morning, counselor (morning, Maitre) Now the student drives the cab, and the teacher's in the back, and she keeps score Different book, same bones Morning, Maitre [Outro: guitars and cymbal bell fade, spoken female] Article fourteen fifty eight [Spoken male] Every person has a duty to honor his contracts [Spoken female] Green light, Maitre [Spoken male] Mesi