Harry Chapin

Harry Chapin - The Mayor Of Candor Lied lyrics

Your rating:

I learned the final lesson of the levels to the truth
 My father was a farmer he'd go tilling in the ground
 My mother was a neighbor she'd go visiting around.

 But I didn't care.
 For I had found the answer to a plowboy's lonely prayer.
 She was the daughter of the Mayor.

 The Mayor fought my courtship for he'd made other plans
 He saw her married to a better man than a boy with farmer's hands.
 I said -- I hate your father, it's so hard not to strike him.
 She said --You know I love you because you're so much like him.

 And so I'd go sneaking in the evening
 And there she'd stand a crying in the dawn as I was leaving

 But the Mayor of Candor lied
 When he offered me his only daughter
 The Mayor of Candor tried
 To take her across the water
 What a thing to do to a young man in love
 What a thing to do to your daughter.

 One day with father on his tractor and mother off again
 I go to find the mayor and work out what I can
 But he is not at his office, he is not at his home
 When I find him in the countryside he is not alone

 He is holding a woman and imagine my surprise
 As she jumps back from his arms I look into my mother's eyes

 All my thoughts of outrage, embarrassment and pain
 Were washed away by what came roaring through my brain
 The Mayor's at my mercy and I hear my own voice say --
 Your run for re-election is just one month away.

 And the world will never know of what I've seen here sir
 But I'll be with your daughter is my meaning clear?

 My mother looks in horror at the compromise we made
 But the Mayor's rueful smile says the piper must be paid
 I had a month of joy in heaven from this deal I'd made in hell
 What was to happen then my friend a prophet could not tell

 The day after his re-election and the victory celebration
 The Mayor takes his family on a month long foreign vacation

 Oh Coleen -- you know how much I love you
 There is no one I'd ever place above you
 Oh Coleen -- you don't even know me
 To have you there's nothing that's below me.

 But time always passes after all
 And as the summer follows spring so does the winter follow fall

 The day that they return I stand waiting on the road
 I watch the car drive up I watch the passengers unload
 Of course she isn't there of course I should have known
 The Mayor says that she has stayed the decision was her own.

 I spit out my hatred and my fury at his lies
 When he says you tried to blackmail me you're just as bad as I
 He says -- Go and do your damndest, throw your mother to the streets
 You know it's been too many years I had to be discreet

 And as he stands there saying we're just two of a kind
 It hits me like a thunderbolt exploding in my mind

 As I look into his leering aged wrinkled mirror of my own face
 He laughs and sneers and says -- Of course dear son --
 Where do you think you came from in the first place?

 The Mayor of Candor lied
 When he offered me his only dughter
 The Mayor of Candor tried
 To take her across the water
 What a thing to do to a young man in love
 What a thing to do to your daughter
Get this song at:
bol.com
amazon.com

Copyrights:

Author: Harry Chapin

Composer: Harry Chapin

Publisher: Elektra/Asylum/Nonesuch Records, Sandy Songs

Details:

Released in: 2009

Language: English

Appearing on: On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976) , Story of a Life (1999)

Share your thoughts

This form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

0 Comments found