[Intro: piano triplets, soft sax] Behind the corner store where the delivery trucks sleep We built a little staircase out of crates we did not keep [Verse 1] Red crates from the dairy and a blue one from the pop Stacked them like a secret till the stack would not stop Second floor window with a curtain always drawn Mrs. Delaunay upstairs who never comes down at dawn She pays her bills in envelopes slid under the shop door And we never saw her face but we loved her all the more So we wrote a paper heart and climbed our wobbly throne To tape it on the glass and then we left her alone [Chorus: sax answers] Milk crate stairs, milk crate stairs, shaky as a wish Carry two dumb kids up high to leave a paper kiss Milk crate stairs, milk crate stairs, smelling like the rain We never knocked, we never spoke, we only left a name If love is just a ladder then we built it out of plastic And prayed the stack would hold us and the feeling would be classic [Verse 2] Tuesday she took the heart down, Wednesday put a note Thank you for the valentine, be careful on that boat Boat meant the crates, we figured, and we laughed until we shook Then we stole two more from out back and we rebuilt the look Added a third landing like a porch for nervous feet And a rope from the dumpster so the climb would feel complete My cousin said we should ring the bell and finally say hello I said the stairs are braver than the words I do not know [Chorus: sax answers] Milk crate stairs, milk crate stairs, shaky as a wish Carry two dumb kids up high to leave a paper kiss Milk crate stairs, milk crate stairs, smelling like the rain We never knocked, we never spoke, we only left a name If love is just a ladder then we built it out of plastic And prayed the stack would hold us and the feeling would be classic [Sax Solo: warm tenor, eight bars] [Bridge: half-time, piano and voice] One night the stack went sideways and I kissed the alley dirt She laughed so hard the curtain moved, I swear I saw a skirt Then a hand pulled back the cloth and a face as soft as bread Waved once like a blessing and then vanished overhead [Verse 3] We never built them higher and we never rang the bell Left the crates for the stock boys and we never had to tell Sometimes love is just a climb you take to leave a little light On a window that was lonely in the middle of the night [Final Chorus] Milk crate stairs, milk crate stairs, shaky as a wish Carry two dumb kids up high to leave a paper kiss Milk crate stairs, milk crate stairs, smelling like the rain We never knocked, we never spoke, we only left a name If love is just a ladder then we built it out of plastic And prayed the stack would hold us and the feeling would be classic [Outro: piano, soft sax] Behind the corner store where the delivery trucks sleep The alley is empty, but the memory is steep
