Harry Chapin - Sequel lyrics

So here she's actin' happy inside her handsome home

And me, I'm flyin' in my taxi, takin' tips and gettin' stoned.

I got into town a little early.

Had eight hours to kill before the show.

First I thought about heading up north of the bay

Then I knew where I had to go.

I thought about taking a limousine

Or at least a fancy car.

But I ended up taking a taxi

'Cause that's how I got this far.

You see, ten years ago it was the front seat

Drivin' stoned and feelin' no pain.

Now here I am straight and sittin' in the back

Hitting Sixteen Parkside Lane.

The driveway was the same as I remembered

And a butler came and answered the door.

He just shook his head when I asked for her

And said "She doesn't live here anymore."

But he offered to give me the address

That they were forwarding her letters to.

I just took it and returned to the cabbie

And said "I got one more fare for you."

And so we rolled back into the city

Up to a five store old brownstone

I rang the bell that had her name on the mailbox.

The buzzer said somebody's home.

And the look on her face as she opened the door

Was like an old joke told by a friend.

It'd taken ten more years but she'd found her smile

And I watched the corners start to bend.

And she said, "How are you Harry?

Haven't we played this scene before?"

I said "It's so good to see you, Sue

Had to play it out just once more."

Play it out just once more.

She said I've heard you flying high on my radio

I answered "It's not all it seems"

That's when she laughed and she said, "It's better sometimes

When we don't get to touch our dreams."

That's when I asked her where was that actress

She said "That was somebody else"

And then I asked her why she looked so happy now

She said "I finally like myself, at last I like myself."

So we talked all through that afternoon

Talking about where we'd been

We talked of the tiny difference

Between ending and starting to begin.

We talked because talking tells you things

Like what you really are thinking about.

But sometimes you can't find what you're feeling

Till all the word run out.

So I asked her to come to the concert.

She said "No, I work at night."

I said, "We've gotten too damn good at leaving, Sue"

She said, "Harry, you're right."

Don't ask me if I made love to her

Or which one of us started to cry

Don't ask me why she wouldn't take the money that I left

If I answered at all I'd lie.

So I thought about her as I sang that night

And how the circle keeps rolling around.

How I act as I'm facing the footlights

And how she's flying with both feet on the ground.

I guess it's a sequel to our story

From the journey 'tween heaven and hell

With half the time thinking of what might have been

and half thinkin' just as well.

I guess only time will tell.