The musical mind never rests
Not even for a second breath
The musical mind never sleeps
Not even for a chance to eat
The genius ones
are always shunned
Disrespected until they re gone
But the time does come
when their legend lives on
and we ve celebrated every song

You were the one
who said it couldn t be done
but now you re the one doing it
With your acidic pen
uneven staves
and your parched paper
All the doubting minds
that you despise
will come crawling back to you

An orchestration of life
so long-forgotten
People can t remember how to imagine
A gracefully played note
is all one needs to be remote
from uncontrolled reality
And can you really care?
A society so inclined to never fully bare
noticeable differences from the norm

Life has taken every turn
Some people will never truly learn
how you affected them
Your sights, your sounds
Such pleasure is rarely found
But you made it clear to all who dare
that their reward is your encore

Since you ve passed on
scores of listeners have found
what you ve bestowed to all
Those people who fought you
and never bought you
turned out to be wrong
Something echoes
The sound of years
reaching a new generation of ears
will finally come to be endeared
by all who seek that which is good

I ve heard you down in Tin Pan Alley