Track 4 of the album The Lighthouse Years · 2017
Meter Running, Stories Free
“A taxi driver told me his best stories before sunrise, so I gave the song a meter that keeps running. The brass sways in the back seat.”
cinematic pop · orchestral pop · light swing · 4:07
Lyrics
Windscreen wipers keeping time Through the last of the evening rain Thirty years behind this wheel And no two nights the same A bride in a veil at midnight A surgeon still in his coat Everyone leaves me a story Before they step out and go I only drive the streets The stories do the rest Meter running, stories free The whole wide city sits in the back with me Every fare is a chapter, every light turns green On the finest little theatre you've ever seen Meter running, stories free Take the long way round, it's no trouble to me Tell me where you're going, tell me where you've been And I'll carry it gently till the morning comes in A girl with a violin case Late for the biggest night of her life I took the back streets like a prayer And I caught every light She played me one bar at the kerbside Through the window, soft and clear I've had no finer payment In all of my thirty years I only drive the streets The stories do the rest Meter running, stories free The whole wide city sits in the back with me Every fare is a chapter, every light turns green On the finest little theatre you've ever seen Meter running, stories free Take the long way round, it's no trouble to me Tell me where you're going, tell me where you've been And I'll carry it gently till the morning comes in Some ride in silence Some laugh until they cry Some say a name out loud And watch the streetlamps slide on by I keep them all like postcards In the glovebox of my mind Meter running, stories free The whole wide city sits in the back with me Every fare is a chapter, every light turns green On the finest little theatre you've ever seen Meter running, stories free Take the long way round, it's no trouble to me Tell me where you're going, tell me where you've been And I'll carry it gently till the morning comes in Mind the step, mind the rain Meter running, stories free