Estelle (Album Version)-Dan Bern

[ti:Estelle] [ar:Dan Bern] [al:DAN BERN] [by:] [offset:0] [00:00.00]Estelle (Album Version) - Dan Bern [00:28.61]I was painting a still life this morning [00:30.47] [00:31.25]Of a throat lozenge sitting [00:32.80]On a copy of Tropic of Cancer [00:34.46]The only thing weird [00:35.43]About it is that a year ago [00:37.00]I never thought I'd paint anything again [00:38.68] [00:39.84]I decided I wasn't ever gonna paint again [00:42.63]It didn't bother me too much Warhol's dead [00:44.90] [00:45.54]David Hockney's still alive [00:47.26]I don't need to paint [00:48.41] [00:50.94]I painted over ten thousand paintings [00:53.33]Sad ones funny ones [00:55.31]Dark ones and light ones [00:56.80]I've done haystacks and [00:58.09]Rich old ladies by their pools [00:59.79]Wearing nothing but a scarf [01:01.10] [01:02.17]I've painted everything there was to paint [01:04.10] [01:04.71]Now it was time to sit back give interviews [01:07.64]Get on the internet hang out at club med [01:10.09]Take stock of what I've done [01:11.82] [01:13.29]You know the best friend I ever had was a dog [01:16.42]It sounds like a cliche [01:17.77]Unless it's happened to you [01:19.18]Some days that dog was the [01:20.74]Only reason I even got out of bed [01:24.04] [01:24.85]That dog went everywhere with me [01:26.60]And then I heard the crack addicts [01:28.12]Were stealin' dogs and [01:29.25]Selling them for animal research [01:30.52]It sounded like an urban myth to [01:32.19]Me like the mouse in the Coke bottle [01:33.86]But I started leavin' her at home after that [01:36.23]You know Paula was my wife for a while [01:39.11]She ran off to Paris with [01:40.42]The great grandson of Van Gogh [01:42.38]A cartoonist who did [01:43.47]Fashion graphics for Le Monde [01:45.65] [01:47.58]When Paula left she took [01:48.99]My dog I never saw her again [01:51.36]Except in the court during the custody battle [01:53.53]She won and got to keep the dog [01:55.34]And I didn't speak to anyone for months [01:58.77]You know sometimes it feels [02:01.49]Like there's so much that you need [02:04.69]Sometimes the world is upside down [02:08.48] [02:10.39]Sometimes it seems like the only thing you need [02:15.83]Is holdin' someone's [02:17.39]Hand as you walk through town [02:26.77] [02:29.43]I started hanging around with Dino [02:31.54]He used to run a poker game back east [02:33.64]Now he has a little coffee shop [02:35.37]Sells cappuccino to his old pals [02:37.30]Tommy Chicago and Jimmy the Wig and Ugly Rose [02:40.27] [02:40.79]You know the best person I ever knew [02:42.75]Was a Mormon woman named Estelle [02:44.41]She still calls me drunk every few months [02:46.57]And asks me stuff I don't want to talk about [02:49.11]You can't talk to her long [02:50.41]Unless you're drunk yourself [02:51.56]Then we go all night [02:53.02] [03:02.99]Yeah she goes "Why baby [03:04.20]Why baby why baby why [03:06.43]Have you turned your back on love [03:08.37]You had so many chances [03:09.93]Why have you let 'em all go by " [03:13.85] [03:14.38]Well one morning I was sitting [03:15.80]Out in front of Dino's place [03:17.06]With Jake the Shears a guy [03:18.54]From Philly who gives free mohawks [03:20.29]There were a couple of young [03:21.54]Painters I was hopin' to come by [03:22.86]So I could give 'em some advice [03:24.44] [03:25.38]Yeah I was sittin' there updating my list of enemies [03:28.05]When this girl walks in [03:29.32]And the universe kind of stops [03:31.16]Turned out she drank the same tea as me [03:33.32]Don't take more than that [03:34.52]To start a conversation sometimes [03:36.35]She believed collage was [03:37.62]The greatest of all the arts [03:39.37]And was busy pasting pictures [03:40.79]Of horses next to ads for laundry soap [03:43.21]Next to Mohammed Ali [03:44.64]She had a turquoise in her ear [03:46.21]And said Rachmaninoff [03:46.84]Was always in her head [03:48.40]But later that day I was trying [03:50.24]To describe her to Jimmy the Wig [03:51.98] [03:52.62]I couldn't find any words and [03:54.79]I realized I'd started to sketch her chin [03:58.39] [03:58.93]Somehow it didn't look right [04:00.70]I scratched it out and tried it again [04:03.19]I filled an entire pad I threw [04:06.21]It away I never even came close [04:08.72] [04:09.71]For a six days I sat at Dino's place [04:12.83]The rain wouldn't quit [04:14.31]And no one came in [04:15.64]Finally on the seventh day [04:17.34]It cleared and in she walked [04:20.77]I asked her to sit with me [04:22.51]And I bought her a cup of tea [04:24.12]And I asked her to [04:25.38]Model for me sometime [04:26.70]That afternoon I was at a canvas [04:28.64]She was wearing a yellow dress [04:30.07]I swore if she let me I'd get it right [04:32.41]I've painted over ten thousand paintings [04:35.14]Sad ones funny ones [04:36.89]Dark ones and light ones [04:38.20]But sitting there it was like [04:39.71]I couldn't even write my own name [04:43.16]I apologized and said "It's been a few months [04:45.99]If you have patience [04:47.11]I'll get the hang of it again" [04:48.96]In the next few weeks [04:50.30]I painted her hundreds of times [04:54.07]If I get the nose right the chin's too long [04:57.23]If I get 'em both right the face is too thin [05:00.07]But I keep after it and [05:01.63]One day I I'll get it all right [05:05.68] [05:28.16]I painted a still life [05:29.65]This morning of a throat lozenge [05:31.96]Sitting on a copy of Tropic of Cancer [05:33.71]The only thing was funny is that [05:35.72]I never thought I'd paint anything again [05:37.60] [05:39.04]I think I might go visit Estelle [05:40.89] [05:41.58]Those Utah mountains are good for the soul [05:43.78] [05:44.35]I'll bring my brushes and some Jack Daniels [05:46.68]And we can make up for lost time [05:49.50]And she said "Why baby [05:51.13]Why baby why baby why [05:53.09]Baby why have you turned your back on love [05:55.78]You had so many chances [05:56.86]Why have you let 'em all go by " [06:00.66]And she says "Why baby [06:02.03]Why baby why baby why [06:03.98]Baby why have you turned your back on love [06:06.55]You had so many chances [06:07.98]Why have you let 'em all go by " [06:11.21]Sometimes it seems like [06:15.31]There's so much that you need [06:17.61]Sometimes the world is upside down [06:23.07]Sometimes it seems [06:26.05]Like the only thing you need [06:28.33] [06:29.29]Is holdin' someone's hand [06:31.37]As you walk through town