Mr. Loveday’s Good Evening Store

Lyrics

Down the road around the corner is a liquor store And Mr. Loveday sells his stuff at noon and night There is a colored poster hanging at the glass-front door That shows Charles Lindbergh doing his first flight The light inside from a street lamp that he never bought Reveals pictures from the seaside where he's never been A Mr. Peckles, his best friend, a man of profound thought Who used to be the private tailor of the Queen He's known, to come in every day at nine And that's his accepted address Twenty years they've been fighting about what wine They should drink to celebrate their daily chess A third man, Mr. Cony, knows exactly they don't know The rules of chess and how they always play it wrong But he's so firm in thought he thinks he has no need to show So he prefers to leave the things as they belong And relies on the granted sympathy Of those who choose to join him on a drink or two (He's) passing them with gloomy prophecy That shows no sign of light And John the Poet who they're calling Mr. Stew (For a tragic Irish love that he lost years ago) Is telling stories that no one understands While Mrs. Applebee, the lady with the funny bow Is getting stoned on wine and gaily claps her hands Her husband once had been a sailor on the "Mary Rose" A decent man who bravely sailed the seven seas Drowned in the bathing-tub at Mrs. Applebees' [Guitar Solo] Sunset; darkness overwhelms the sky You hear the laughter and the songs they gaily bawl As they decide to have another glass of rye It's getting late but that matters not at all And they fall silent as the night is moving on They might remember some old friends or childhood days But they're easy and their gailty's never gone Having found a home at Mr. Loveday's place