Up on the Shelf Songtext

von Harry Chapin

I used to play the trumpet once but now I play guitar
Somebody told you it's more mellow.
Well I've played a lot of music since but I really haven't grown that far
Somebody said that you're just yellow.

So I keep it up on the shelf
And it's funny how you keep it all to yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?

You know I used to swing my silver sword, the dragons hit the ground
Whatever happened to the maidens?
Well I'd swing my silver sword again and they would all fall down
Would you leave them lying there where you had laid them?

And I used to have a country once, where it's gone I do not know.
Where do you think you might have lost it?
I used to raise the flag at dawn, but that was very long ago
Maybe you can find it where you tossed it.

Well I tossed it up on the shelf
And it's funny how you've kept it all for yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?

I used to say my prayers boys, I used to sing the hymns
Even the echo's disappearing.
They've broken the stained windows, the cathedral's getting dim.
Then what is this dirge that we are hearing?

Well it comes from up on the shelf
And it's funny how you sing it only for yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?

Well, I used to have a lover once, I used to have a friend
How in the hell you ever find one?
My song is almost over now, my story's at an end
You lived yourself a good life but a blind one.

Well I've hidden there up on the shelf
And it's funny how you've kept it all for yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?