Lyrics

I was walking through a railroad town
One sunny day in June
When I thought I heard a busker
Singing out his lonely tune
The smell of cigarettes and whisky
Was hanging in the breeze,
His voice was slightly worn
As he tried to stay on key

Chorus:
I saw the shadow of his fingers
As they strummed across the strings
I heard a leather sole tap
As his guitar began to ring
I felt a lonely soul reaching out
Like some old eerie spell,
Listen to the sidewalk serenader
He has a tale to tell

He sang a song about a love he lost
So many years ago
Regretful and remorseful
It seemed to haunt him so
I tried to get a closer look
but only saw his shadow
I wondered if somehow that it
was all he dared to show
(To Chorus)

When he took a break I asked him
If he’d sing a song for me
He rolled up a smoke and said
Listen boy now can’t you see
If I do the one about the Troubadour
It’ll put your brain in hell
I’m the sidewalk serenader
And I have a tale to tell
(To Chorus)

Then a shadow from a cloud above
Crept down the sunny street
Taking with it when it left
The lonely soul that I did meet
The shadow was gone and I was
The one left standing there
And I had to stop and wonder
was he ever really there
(To Chorus)

I am the sidewalk serenader
And I have a tale to tell