Second Guessers

there's a lonely guy tonight in the barroom
sitting on a stool with nothing to say
he just picked his favorite ten songs on the jukebox
he'll do his best tonight to spend all his pay

when his first beer is gone then it's time for another
a couple more sips and he'll think of a line
to say to the pretty girl smokling the cigarettes
all alone by the Pabst Blue Ribbon sign

another song from A Band of Gypsys is playing
those ten minute songs are more for his buck
as Jimi's guitar screams through the evening
he swollows his pride and presses his luck

but as he's walking out across the killing floor
another guy beats him to the prize
she's talking and smiling to some stranger
now the cigarette smoke starts burning his eyes

so he sits back down again on the barstool
and orders up a glass of bourbon and rocks
it's gonna take something hard to kill off the bad taste
of thinking too long and dragging his socks

all he wanted tonight was to talk to a woman
and one that didn't seem to know nearly everyone there
but he's a little too high and he can't find the moment
and soon he'll be so drunk that he won't even care

at two AM the tavern is closing
he's thinking 'bout the chances that he didn't take
he finishes up and heads to the doorway
feeling like a piece of leftover cake

it's just another Saturday night at the tavern
and Sunday morning's looking ugly and bleak
there ain't no time for second guessers
but he'll be back three more times next week

words and music by Dan Whitaker
© 2004 Sunny Smedley Music