My Clarinet - Stephen Bishop

I should have stayed playing my clarinet

I coulda made it

I coulda made it

Playing big halls in an all-Negro band

I never should have left the town

That I knew so well

San Diego, can’t you tell?

I could’ve made it

Playing my clarinet

I hang around people I used to gawk at

In magazines

I was fifteen

And it all seemed so far away

I’d get my kicks

From singing «Money» in an old garage

On Saranac Street

I’m tired and I’m scared

And I want to go home again

You probably think I’m kidding

And you’re probably right

I feel like the «Z» in xylophone tonight

And I keep looking for an answer

But I can’t put up a fight

It all seems so long ago

When I…

I should have stayed playing my clarinet

I coulda made it

I coulda made it

Playing big halls in an all-Negro band

I should have gone to college

Instead of watching TV

All day in my bathrobe

I could’ve made it

Playing my clarinet

I should have made it

Playing my clarinet…