Estelle Lyrics - Dan Bern

I was painting a still life this morning 

Of a throat lozenge sitting on a copy 

Of Tropic of Cancer 

The only thing weird about it 

Is that a year ago, 

I never thought I'd paint anything again 

I decided I wasn't ever gonna paint again 

It didn't bother me too much 

Warhol's dead, 

David Hockney's still alive 

I don't need to paint 

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I painted over ten thousand paintings 

Sad ones, funny ones, dark ones, and light ones 

I've done haystacks 

And rich old ladies by their pools 

Wearing nothing but a scarf 

I've painted everything there was to paint 

Now it was time to sit back 

Give interviews 

Hang out at club med 

Get on the internet 

Take stock of what I've done 

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You know, the best friend I ever had was a dog 

It sounds like a cliche unless it's happened to you 

Some days that dog was the only reason I even got out of bed 

That dog went everywhere with me 

And then I heard the crack addicts 

Were stealin' dogs and selling them for animal research 

It sounded like an urban myth to me 

Like the mouse in the Coke bottle 

But I started leavin' her at home after that 

You know, Paula was my wife for a while 

She ran off to Paris with the great grandson of Van Gogh 

A cartoonist who did fashion graphics for Le Monde 

When Paula left she took my dog 

I never saw her again 

Except in the court during the custody battle 

She won and got to keep the dog 

And I didn't speak to anyone for months 

You know sometimes it feels 

Like there's so much that you need 

Sometimes the world is upside down 

Sometimes it feels 

Like the only thing you need 

Is holdin' someone's hand as you walk through town 

I started hanging around with Dino 

He used to run a poker game back east 

Now he sells cappuccino to his old pals 

Tommy Chicago and Jimmy the Wig and Ugly Rose 

You know the best person I ever knew 

Was a Mormon woman named Estelle 

She still calls me drunk every few months 

And asks me stuff I don't want to talk about 

You can't talk to her very long unless you're drunk yourself 

Then we go all night 

She says, "Why baby, why baby, why baby, why 

Have you turned your back on love? 

You had so many chances 

Why have you let 'em all go by?" 

Well, one morning I was sitting in front of Dino's place 

with Jake the Shears, a guy from Philly 

Who gives free mohawks 

There were a couple of young painters 

I was hopin' to come by 

So I could give 'em some advice 

Yeah, I was sittin' there updating my list of enemies 

When this girl walks in 

And the universe kind of stops 

Turned out she drank the same tea as me 

It don't take more than that to start a conversation sometimes 

She believed collage was the greatest of all the arts 

And was busy pasting pictures of horses 

Next to ads for laundry soap 

Next to Mohammed Ali 

She had a turquoise in her ear 

And said Rachmaninoff was always in her head 

Later that day I was trying to describe her to Jimmy the Wig 

I couldn't find any words 

And I realized I'd started to sketch her chin 

Somehow it didn't look right 

I scratched it out and tried it again 

I filled an entire pad 

I threw it away, I never even came close 

For six days I sat at Dino's place 

The rain wouldn't quit and no one came in 

Finally on the seventh day it cleared 

And in she walked 

I asked her to sit with me 

And ibought her a cup of tea 

And I asked her to model for me sometime 

That afternoon I was at a canvas 

She was wearing a yellow dress 

I swore if she let me, I'd get it right 

I've painted over ten thousand paintings 

Sad ones, funny ones, dark ones, and light ones 

But sitting there, it was like I couldn't even 

Write my own name 

I apologized and said, "It's been a few months 

If you have patience, I'll get the hang of it again" 

In the next few weeks, I painted her hundreds of times 

If I get the nose right, the chin's too long 

If I get 'em both right, the face is too thin 

But I keep after it and one day 

I get it all right 

I painted a still life this morning 

Of a throat lozenge 

sitting on a copy of Tropic of Cancer 

The only weird thing about it 

Is I never thought 

I'd paint anything again 

I think I might go visit Estelle 

Those Utah mountains are good for the soul 

I'll bring my brushes 

And some Jack Daniels 

And we can make up for lost time 

She said, "Why baby, why baby, why baby why? 

Have you turned your back on love 

You had so many chances 

Why do you let 'em all go by? 

Why baby, why baby, why baby why? 

Have you turned your back on love 

You had so many chances 

Why do you let 'em all go by?" 

Sometimes it seems like there's so much that you need 

Sometimes the world is upside down 

Sometimes it seems like the only thing you need 

Is holdin' someone's hand as you walk through town