Track 7 of the album Last Call, Low Light · 2007
The Hat Check at the Blue Lagoon Room
“A real room that really closed, with the velvet drawn. I sang it with my coat already on.”
jazz ballad · supper-club · nostalgic ballad · 4:24
Lyrics
The Blue Lagoon Room is closing Its velvet curtains drawn The band is packing up their horns And the last of the crowd is gone I stand beneath the chandelier With a hat I can't return A man once left it in my hands And never did he come to learn Oh, who will claim the hat tonight Who will come to call It's waited by the coat rack Through the winter and the fall A tip of felt, a silver band A story in the brim I keep it for the one who left In case he comes back in He wore it tilted to the side He laughed at his own joke He danced a slow one with a girl Whose dress was soft as smoke And when the night was over He just wandered out the door And left his hat and half a dream On the cold and polished floor Oh, who will claim the hat tonight Who will come to call It's waited by the coat rack Through the winter and the fall A tip of felt, a silver band A story in the brim I keep it for the one who left In case he comes back in Some things we hold on to For no reason we can say A promise, or a stranger's coat Or the end of a bright day So I will dust it every week And set it in its place And hope that someday through the door Comes a smile and a familiar face Oh, who will claim the hat tonight Who will come to call It's waited by the coat rack Through the winter and the fall A tip of felt, a silver band A story in the brim I keep it for the one who left In case he comes back in In case he comes back in In case he comes back in