Up On the Shelf
Harry Chapin

I used to play the trumpet once but now I play guitar
Somebody told you it's more mellow.
Well I've played a lot of music since but I really haven't grown that far
Somebody said that you're just yellow.

So I keep it up on the shelf
And it's funny how you keep it all to yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?

You know I used to swing my silver sword, the dragons hit the ground
Whatever happened to the maidens?
Well I'd swing my silver sword again and they would all fall down
Would you leave them lying there where you had laid them?

And I used to have a country once, where it's gone I do not know.
Where do you think you might have lost it?
I used to raise the flag at dawn, but that was very long ago
Maybe you can find it where you tossed it.

Well I tossed it up on the shelf
And it's funny how you've kept it all for yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?

I used to say my prayers boys, I used to sing the hymns
Even the echo's disappearing.
They've broken the stained windows, the cathedral's getting dim.
Then what is this dirge that we are hearing?

Well it comes from up on the shelf
And it's funny how you sing it only for yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?

Well, I used to have a lover once, I used to have a friend
How in the hell you ever find one?
My song is almost over now, my story's at an end
You lived yourself a good life but a blind one.

Well I've hidden there up on the shelf
And it's funny how you've kept it all for yourself
Hey honey, could there ever be,
Should there ever be,
Could there ever be something else?


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Lyrics by Harry Chapin

  30,000 Pounds of Bananas   A Better Place To Be   A Lot of Lonely People Tonight   A Quiet Little Love Affair   And the Baby Never Cries   Anthem   Any Old Kind of Day   Babysitter   Barefoot Boy   Basic Protest Song   Bluesman   Bummer   Burning Herself   Calluses   Caroline   Cat's In The Cradle   Cat's InThe Cradle   Cat's In The Cradle   Cats In The Cradle   Changes   Circle   Copper   Corey's Coming   Corey's Coming   Could you put your Light on Please?   Could You Put Your Light On, Please   Country Dreams   Dance Band on the Titanic   Dancin' Boy   Dancin' Boy   Dancing Boy   Dirt Gets Under the Fingernails   Dogtown   Dreams Go By   Empty   Everybody's Lonely   Everybody's Lonely   Fall In Love With Him   Flowers Are Red   Get On With It   God Babe You've Been Good To Me   God Babe, You've Been Good For Me   God Babe, You've Been Good For Me   Greyhound   Halfway to Heaven   I Do It For You Jane   I Don't Want To Be President   I Don't Want To Be President   I Finally Found It, Sandy   I Miss America   I Wanna Learn a Love Song   I Want to Learn a Love Song   I Wonder What Happened To Him   I Wonder What Would Happen to Him   I Wonder What Would Happen to this World   If My Mary Were Here   If You Want to Feel   It Seems You Only Love Me When It Rains   Jenny   Jubilation   Last Of The Protest Singers   Last Stand   Laugh Man   Legends of the Lost and Found   Let Time Go Lightly   Love Is Just Another Word   Mail Order Annie   Manhood   Mercenaries   Mismatch   Mr. Tanner   My Old Lady   Northwest 222   November Rain   November Rains   Odd Job Man   Old College Avenue   Old Folkie   On the Road to Kingdom Come   One Light in a Dark Valley   Paint A Picture Of Yourself   Paint A Picture of Yourself (Michael)   Pigeon Run   Poor Damned Fool   Pretzel Man   Remember When the Music   Remember When the Music (Reprise)   Roll Down the River   Salt And Pepper   Sandy   Saturday Morning   Sequel   She Is Always Seventeen   She Sings Songs Without Words   Shooting Star   Short Stories   Silly Little Girl   Six String Orchestra   Sniper   Somebody Said   Someone Keeps Calling My Name   Sometime Somewhere Wife   Sometime, Somewhere Wife   Song for Myself   Song Man   Sounds Like America To Me   Star Tripper   Stop Singing These Sad Songs   Story of a Life   Stranger with the Melodies   Sunday Morning Sunshine   Tangled Up Puppet   Taxi   The Day They Closed the Factory Down   The Mayor of Candor Lied   The Parade's Still Passing By   The Parade's Still Passing By   The Rock   The Same Sad Singer   The Shortest Story   There Only Was One Choice   There's Alot of Lonely People Tonight   They Call Her Easy   Vacancy   W.O.L.D   W.O.L.D.   W*O*L*D   We Grew Up A Little Bit   We Were Three   What Made America Famous   What Made America Famous?   Why Do Little Girls   Why Do Little Girls?   Why Should People Stay the Same   Winter Song   Woman Child   Word Wizard   You Are the Only Song

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