YEARBOOK (2006)
(v1)
God, look at his hair
Do you remember his hair?
Painting the homecoming float
There was a chill in the air
Felt his hand inside my coat
It was a good kiss
The first of six
By then he used up
All of his tricks
He wrote "See you in chem class"
We turn the page
Of the yearbook
Some boys kiss and cross their fingers
Some boys wish but never try
Some boys show up in your diary
And meet you on the sly
And some boys lie
Some boys lie
(v2)
God, look at the clothes
Will you look at the clothes?
Orchestra after school
Two violas in sync
Putting away our bows
Saw him give me a wink
When he came over
I talked so much
We talked half the night
But didn’t touch
He wrote "Best Friends Forever"
And we turn the page
Of the yearbook
Some boys call ten years later
Some boys wait and make you sigh
Some boys run the family business
And wave their dreams goodbye
And some boys die
Some boys die
(bridge)
Notebook paper pressed between the pages
Private lesson in a way
Lessons learned outside the classroom
Are still hard to understand
Even when I read them over today
(v3)
God, look at his face
Do you remember his face
Sitting a few rows away
Me with his paper outspread
Poetry flooded with grace
He watched me as I read
He walked me home
Without a word
My heart beat so loud
I'm sure he heard
There's a signature missing
Don’t turn the page
Of the yearbook
Some boys miss their graduation
Some beguile and mystify
Some boys close their eyes too early
Relinquishing the sky
Some boys die
Some boys....
It's what I learned in high school...
.....
©2006 Z. Mulls
This lyric is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office as part of the collection THE COLLECTED LYRICS OF Z. MULLS Volume One 1995-2006
This has always been a favorite lyric, and it had won "Lyric of the Month" in June 2006 on the Muses’ Muse.
I was recently contacted via this website by Carlo Pocklington, a composer in Paraguay. He came across this lyric and really wanted to set it. It took some convincing to let this lyric go, but Carlo had a lovely cabaret/theatrical idea for it and we worked on it pretty closely.
I had the opportunity to fix a lot of lyrics that didn’t flow, and rewrite the problematic bridge. This is the final lyric.
It’s nice to have a song that needs a female vocal get a female singer on it, too!
