[INTRO — instrumental, tumbling bass, nervous sax flutters] [VERSE 1 — rapid, jittery] Karaoke at the Starlight, Thursdays, nine (uh) There's Brenda with the ballads, doing fine There's the twins with the duets, slightly drunk And there's Gerald at the corner table with his cup Of plain coffee — been coming here two years Never puts his name in till the closing nears Then the host says Gerald — one more — and the room Turns warm like a kitchen — 'cause everybody knew It's the same song — the slow one — from before From a year none of us lived — we still know every word He sings it with his eyes closed and his hands in fists Not good, not bad — true — like a man who exists Only inside the chorus — three minutes of flame Then he nods, puts the mic back, and we don't know his last name [HOOK — jittery, brave] One song, one song (his song) Every Thursday, same list, same name One song, one song (his song) You don't pick it — it picks you, that's the game (one song) [VERSE 2 — cracking open, braver] Last Thursday I asked him — man, why that one He stirred his coffee slow, said: it was the song Playing when I met her — a laundromat radio And it played at the wedding and it played at the door Of the hospital, the last night — I held her hand through it So now I sing it weekly just to put her through it Backwards — from the dark into the room full of light Every Thursday at closing I give her back one night He said it flat, like a weather report, then he smiled And the host called his name for the last of the while And the whole bar sang it with him — Brenda too Nobody told us to — that's just what songs do [HOOK — jittery, brave] One song, one song (his song) Every Thursday, same list, same name One song, one song (his song) You don't pick it — it picks you, that's the game (one song) [BRIDGE — piano stabs, voice bare] Everybody's got one song they'd bleed for Gerald's just honest about his Some people go to church on Sunday Gerald goes to Thursday for three minutes of her [OUTRO — sax flutters and fades] (one song... one song...) Sing it, Gerald We know every word
