Too Many Smiling People Blues

Before I was a nobody slinking by,
a real skink-body nobody.
Now they give me handfulls
of money and call me a genius.

Thanks, thanks very much, I’ll take this.
I’ll take your money that slithers to no ends
but wait… my friends, where are my precious friends?
There’s nothing but pink smiles all around….

I used to sing songs in the dark.
Now they put a shiny guitar in my hands,
and I make music to shiny coins, crank it out, and when
it’s all over they say, “that’s good, now can you stand

on your hands?” And there’s not even
enough energy to frown. O’ ain’t it a bringdown,
when everybody’s got a piece of you
and there’s nothing but smiles all around.

And it used to be the only one
I could get to listen was you, baby blue…..
You and me alone all those windy, sleepy years,
and when I sang a tune you were the only one that got it.

Now I look through the screaming crowd,
who eat my energy, shouting, “We get it! We get it!”
But your smile is nowhere to be found, and O’
ain’t it a bringdown when everybody’s got a piece of you

and there’s nothing
          but smiles all around….