All songs
copyrighted
by David Rood
except as noted.
Mr. Brown
Story
An actor told me the end of this story, describing how he imagined he would like to finish his career. His name was Brown, though not Leonard. The song was made; I just had to set it up.
Lyrics
[A] His given name was [g#min] Leonard, but we [G] all just called him [D] Brown
[E] He wasn't close to [A] anybody; [G] he was our class [E] clown
And he [A] had a gift for [D] speaking, and he [E] kept so little [f#min] hidden
He [c#min] didn't seem to know who he was [bmin] when we were [E] kids
He felt like he was drowning in sand until he walked the wood
It was joy and hope and dreams, and everything good
The theatre became his only concept of success
The longest line was casting call at the Unemployment office
Chorus:
Some [A] plays he'd do for [D/A] fun
And [E/A] some he did for [A] pay
Some [D] audiences [bmin] laughed and cried
[G] Some just walked away [E]
There are [D] roles that bring you [E] passion
Or [A] wisdom or [f#min] cachet
And [bmin] roles that show how even
A [E] fool can die with [Aadd2] grace
Laura was a schoolteacher who waited after a show
Year by year she stayed with him, believing in his hopes
She once went home to her mother so the baby wouldn't starve
She wrote and watched, and in a year she came back to her star
(Chorus)
[D] It takes a lifetime to make a man
He [c#] carries a part of everyone he knows
It [bmin] might have been fate; it wasn't a plan
There were a hundred characters in [E] Mr. Brown
The stage is timeless; makeup makes your age
By the time he played the lead his daughter had grown away
After the last lonely howl, after the last feather stirred
Lear bore Cordelia and collapsed over her
The crowd stood and shouted
At the end of the laureled show
The lights came up, but for Mr. Brown
The curtain never rose
(Chorus)
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