I was just fifteen, at my cousin's - we were playing
When we found Uncle Buzz dead in the basement
Dad shut the door and no one said that word, that word
We found a note that he wrote on the mantle
And I felt like shit 'cause I wanted his piano
But I got his records and his arch-top Kay guitar

Goodbye Uncle Buzz, I know I should've cried
But I couldn't just because
Goodbye Uncle Buzz, everything's covered
But nothing's what is was
Nothing's what it was, nothing's what it was

The paper said he died from hypertension
And the word "suicide" was never mentioned
Mom said it was his heart
I guess it was in a way, in a way
I played his records on our Sears turntable
Heard Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, and Mavis Staples
And I tried his old guitar
But it wasn't what the Beatles played anyway

Goodbye Uncle Buzz, I know I should've cried
But I couldn't just because
Goodbye Uncle Buzz, everything's covered
But nothing's what is was
Nothing's what it was, nothing's what it was
It was ten years later, met my cousins at the station
But nobody said a word about the basement
Though everybody there had a drop of Uncle Buzz in our blood
And now and then I find I think about my uncle
And our mothers and our fathers and our secrets in the basement
And the children in the dark, the children in the dark
The children in the dark, the children in the dark

Goodbye Uncle Buzz, I know I should've cried
But I couldn't just because
Goodbye Uncle Buzz, everything's covered
But nothing's what is was
Nothing's what it was, nothing's what it was