Lyrics
Lefty Clark was a young man, he was a handsome Sunday athlete
Wrote stories for the paper down on main street
And chances he had chances to escape the small town life
But his brother was deaf and dumb and couldn't be left behind
But depression was going strong then, actors were on the road
One hot July girl came through in a WPA show
She was city-bred and beautiful
A lady to her fingertips
As much at home in her velvet shoes
As Lefty was in his
They fell in love on the courthouse square
But pretty soon her show moved on
And she couldn't stay and Lefty couldn't go
So the years passed and Lefty grew old
With only his brother home
And when Dummy died, it was too late
To find any place else and so
Some nights he'd have a little whiskey
For the summer on his mind
And open his trunk and hold two velvet shoes
And sit and cry
He'd sit and cry
Most of the time he was Lefty who always had a joke
Was good to his friends and neighbors
And never whispered of being alone
He hit sixty-eight all by himself with tobacco on his chin
A TV dinner in the oven
And a few friends dropping in
Still once each billion chances
There's justice in the world
And late that year he finally heard from the long-lost velvet girl
She was still so beautiful, tall, silver-haired and proud
They took walks like they used to take
Before the last summer run out
She said, "Better late than never, let me sit, you took a while"
She spoke her life with sadness, and he spoke with a smile
He'd sit and smile
He'd sit and smile
He'd sit and smile
Wrote stories for the paper down on main street
And chances he had chances to escape the small town life
But his brother was deaf and dumb and couldn't be left behind
But depression was going strong then, actors were on the road
One hot July girl came through in a WPA show
She was city-bred and beautiful
A lady to her fingertips
As much at home in her velvet shoes
As Lefty was in his
They fell in love on the courthouse square
But pretty soon her show moved on
And she couldn't stay and Lefty couldn't go
So the years passed and Lefty grew old
With only his brother home
And when Dummy died, it was too late
To find any place else and so
Some nights he'd have a little whiskey
For the summer on his mind
And open his trunk and hold two velvet shoes
And sit and cry
He'd sit and cry
Most of the time he was Lefty who always had a joke
Was good to his friends and neighbors
And never whispered of being alone
He hit sixty-eight all by himself with tobacco on his chin
A TV dinner in the oven
And a few friends dropping in
Still once each billion chances
There's justice in the world
And late that year he finally heard from the long-lost velvet girl
She was still so beautiful, tall, silver-haired and proud
They took walks like they used to take
Before the last summer run out
She said, "Better late than never, let me sit, you took a while"
She spoke her life with sadness, and he spoke with a smile
He'd sit and smile
He'd sit and smile
He'd sit and smile