The Elevator Still Goes Up | THE MANY-COLOURED MAN

[INTRO] The light says three. The little bell rings. Someone's left a coat here. They do that. Leave things. [VERSE 1] Blue flowers. Prague. A coat in sixty-three. The buttons knew somebody. The coat remembers me. Wrong soap. Vienna. A mug beside the phone. Dead now. No, the other one. Leave the handle alone. Your laugh through the wall. The kettle clicks two. Somebody's Sunday Is borrowing you. Six months. Purple. The good side of a spoon. I can buy another. Not that afternoon. [CHORUS] Still goes up. Still goes up. Don't ask where the water is. The little light says three. Still goes up. Still goes up. Don't ask where the water is. The doors still close for me. [INTERLUDE] [VERSE 2] Forty autumns. A chair by the door. They changed all the windows. It's the same little floor. A return on the ticket. A hole in the sleeve. I keep the return part. You don't have to leave. Half a name on a receipt. The other half washed out. The teaspoons haven't moved at all. The city's moved about. Shoes drying by the radiator. Both still point that way. My hands know all the little jobs. Let them have the day. [CHORUS] Still goes up. Still goes up. Don't ask where the water is. The little light says three. Still goes up. Still goes up. Don't ask where the water is. The doors still close for me. [BRIDGE] The elevator still goes up if the basement floods. They've polished all the numbers. Look, they shine. I can get you to the third floor. That much still works fine. [FINAL VERSE] Blue flowers. New water. The stems have gone soft. Somebody's name on the envelope. The stamp's coming off. No, leave it. It knows me. The paper's gone thin. That particular handwriting. Keep the afternoon in. [FINAL CHORUS] Still goes up. Still goes up. Don't ask where the water is. The little light says three. Still goes up. Still goes up. Don't ask where the water is. The doors still close for me. [OUTRO] Third floor. I'll make tea. Don't ask where the water is. Leave that part to me.