The Real Blues

[Verse 1]

I shoulda learned the blues guitar

Slunk in the corner of a local bar

Sweet home Chicago, but not that far

Remember your shoes when you follow a star



You can't sing, "My baby gone done me wrong"

If you've kissed and made up by the end of the song

And it don't make sense to sing, "I'm lonely and blue"

As soon as she's gone, there's twenty more in the queue



[Verse 2]

I shoulda learned to blow the harp

But blow the harp, your troubles start

You bend the notes then fall apart

Shut your mouth and mute your heart



If it seems she's the reason this lonely heart bled

You can bet there's a replacement waiting under the bed

If he screams at her so bad, now she's gone for good

It'll be the rent he has to pay in a new neighbourhood



[Chorus]

Let's sing the real sad blues

Let's sing the real sad blues

Let's sing the real sad blues

Let's sing the real sad blues



[Verse 3]

I shoulda known to learn the sax

To paper over the personal cracks

To play a solitary note

The loner's longest anecdote



Singing, "Baby, come back" is the finest of arts

He'll make it sound like it's direct from his heart

He's pleading you're together but he's loving apart

And you'll see straight through if you're quick and you're smart



[Verse 4]

I shoulda taught myself one tune

That attracted folk from other room

A party piece to woo the guests

When neither looks nor words impress



When singing, she's leaving, there's a crack in his voice

'Cause no one who left was ever offered the choice

Baby returns all the flowers I sent

'Cause she's used to getting presents that are only to lend



[Chorus]

Let's sing the real sad blues

Let's sing the real sad blues

Let's sing the real sad blues

Let's sing the real sad blues



[Bridge]

So he sings of a love he could never quite find

The soul I was searching, but never aligned

I'm not short-sighted, but it's never been blind

The love that he discovered wasn't her kind



[Verse 5]

I shoulda learned the eight-bar blues

But first you gotta have enough to lose

That loner with a boner ploy

You gotta lose a girl before you're a bachelor boy



So the truth comes out at the end of the song

You can't sing it right if your life is so wrong

The deepest blues and the saddest refrain

Is locked up tight with a clock on your brain



[Chorus]

Let's sing the real sad blues

Let's sing the real sad blues

Let's sing the real sad blues

Let's sing the real sad blues



[Outro]

(Real sad blues) You could spend all your life trying to master the beat

(Real sad blues) 'Cause you can't feel the blues unless you've got wet feet

(Real sad blues) Sing a real sad, real sad, ah

(Real sad blues) Let's sing the real sad blues



(Real sad blues) The money you blow, the trains that you miss

(Real sad blues) You can't sing the blues if you're an Annie or Chris

(Real sad blues) No better than the lurch, secretaries behind

(Real sad blues) Lower than the fact than he acts it refined



(Real sad blues) Let's sing a real sad blues

(Real sad blues) Let's sing a real sad blues

(Real sad blues) Let's sing a real sad blues

(Real sad blues) Let's sing a real sad blues



(Real sad blues)

(Real sad blues)

(Real sad blues)

(Real sad blues)