[Intro: Plucked Banjo Riff and Acoustic Guitar] [Verse 1] Forty-four Septembers I was up before the sun Writing notes on yellow paper For a term not yet begun Now the halls are filling up again And the kettle's on inside But a stranger's name is on my door And I'm standing on the outside [Chorus] So what now, Jerry, what now? With the chalk dust on your sleeve Forty-four years of talking And no one left to teach What now, Jerry, what now? When the bell rings down the hall You were the voice at the front of the room Now you're not in the room at all [Verse 2] In the staffroom they're still laughing At the stories that I told And they say the place is quieter And the tea is going cold And the students on the stairway Ask what happened to the man Who learned your name by the second week And said "of course you can" [Chorus: Crowd Vocals] So what now, Jerry, what now? With the chalk dust on your sleeve Forty-four years of talking And no one left to teach What now, Jerry, what now? When the bell rings down the hall You were the voice at the front of the room Now you're not in the room at all [Instrumental Break: Banjo and Piano] [Bridge] My daughter rang on Sunday From a life that's all her own Said "Dad, you taught a thousand kids To find their way alone So take a bit of your own lesson Make a brand new first-day plan" And I laughed down the line for the first time Since they shook my hand [Final Chorus: Big Singalong] So what now, Jerry, what now? Take the folder off the shelf Forty-four years of lessons Now you'll teach one to yourself What now, Jerry, what now? It's September once again And the page is blank for the first time So pick up the pen [Outro: Soft Falsetto and Crowd Vocals] What now? What now? Pick up the pen
