I wrote a song on a stolen guitar
I gave it all I could
A thief dressed like a revolutionary
Wielding nylon, steel, and wood
It was short, it was long
It was weak, it was strong
It was everything I wanted to say
I wrote a song on a stolen guitar
when I was just learning how to play
The words came fast as I recall
My tongue savored the melody
I wore down the frets with all my regrets
and all of my ecstasies
It was sad, it was sweet
Unvarnished, complete
A trick memory sometimes plays
when you cling to something you don’t really own
and you give the rest away
But a song is hardly ever enough
Could there be even more that I owed?
It was show-and-tell with a rope and a bell
and I was the only one who showed
Because somewhere I got lost somehow
and the song drifted out my door
I wrote a song on a stolen guitar
but I can’t hear it anymore
I swore I’d always give it to you straight, my friends
If indeed that’s still what you’re after
Whether I’m singing in the shower
or hanging from the rafter
It was right, it was wrong
It was old, it was young
It was everything I could not say
I wrote a song on this stolen guitar
when I was just learning how to play
credits
from Songs from a Stolen Guitar,
released May 20, 2022
All songs by Simon Joyner
Cowardly Traveller Music, BMI
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