Downtown Drinking
Dingdaddy
[Verse 1]
There's a window facing Liberty Avenue
where the light comes in slant and amber through the glass
I've been sitting here since the lunch crowd thinned
watching the bridges hold their architecture against the sky
You're late, but I expected that
ordered you a lager anyway
[Verse 2]
The bartender knows my face now
doesn't ask, just pours
There's a comfort in that kind of recognition
the way the Point looks different every season
but the three rivers still meet in the same place
I think about permanence like that sometimes
how we keep returning to certain intersections
[Bridge]
Someone put a song on I almost remember
the jukebox has been here longer than most of the regulars
I'm tracing water rings on this wooden bar
they overlap like all the afternoons we've spent here
talking about leaving, about staying
about which one takes more courage
[Verse 3]
When you finally arrive your coat smells like October
you slide onto the stool and sigh like you've been carrying something heavy
I don't ask what
We've learned that some things get said in the third beer
not the first
The television flickers with a game nobody's watching
and the light through that window keeps changing
turning everything rust and indigo before it fades
[Outro]
The bridges are lighting up now
I can see them if I lean just right
You're laughing about something I said
or maybe just the fact that we're still here
in this same worn place
where the rivers converge and the beer stays cold
Versions
Downtown Drinking (Version A)
Dingdaddy
Version A
Downtown Drinking (Version B)
Dingdaddy
Version B