Gord Downie
Safest Day of the Year
One more coffee and the bill, you’ve heard this but not by me
The night sky’s a rye and pepsi
I left the heat of my bed, and I walked for blocks
Passed a cop, boarded-up shops, vacant lots
All that flickers in the dark’s discarded at dawn
Night’s marriage with the listener gone
Now a lemon and silver light, it pulses through the sheers
One more coffee, it’s the safest day of the year
It’s the safest day
It’s the safest day of the year
It’s the safest day of the year
One more coffee and the bill, afternoon’s white as smoke
And zebra-wound-red, and worn-out-tradition yellow
I hear a garbage truck outside, the seal-arf of its brakes
And the tuba fulla rocks when it accelerates
And to the guy who’s been shown all four walls, and thrown around some
The waiter says, ‘Hey! I sell the eggs, I don’t sit on ’em!’
After everything a poem about why now must end here
One more coffee, it’s the safest day of the year
It’s the safest day
It’s the safest day of the year
It’s the safest day of the year
One more coffee and the bill, twilight’s a sale on paint
It’s the only way this riot of colours is explained
When the quiet one suddenly pounced, ‘What’s with this certainty?!’
Stop annoying us with your insecurities
Now, usually a guy waiting gets what he’s waiting for
The next thing he knows he is lying on the floor
But as the stars start to star, I have nothing to fear
One more coffee, on the safest day of the year
One more coffee, it’s the safest day of the year
It’s the safest day of the year
It’s the safest day of the year
It’s the safest day of the year
It’s the safest day of the year
It’s the safest day of the year