Track 8 of the album Last Call, Low Light · 2007
Streetlamp Waltz for the Milkman
“Four in the morning, the milkman's bottles ringing, and the only waltz left in town. Night-shift people have always known this hour best.”
jazz ballad · waltz · late-night · 3:06
Lyrics
Four o'clock and the street is blue Glass bottles ringing two by two He walks the lane in his soft-soled shoes Leaving the morning on every stoop Nobody sees him come or go Only the cat and the lamplight's glow He knows which window keeps a cough Which door is waiting for someone gone So here's to the man with the early round Carrying the dawn without a sound One bottle here and one bottle there A little bit of care on every stair He hums a waltz to the sleeping lawns Counting the porches, the hush before dawn A widow's step has a bottle extra He never says why, and she never asks him So here's to the man with the early round Carrying the dawn without a sound One bottle here and one bottle there A little bit of care on every stair When the sun climbs up and the town wakes wide He is home and asleep with the night outside But the doorsteps shine where his footsteps led And the day begins with the kindness he spread So here's to the man with the early round Carrying the dawn without a sound One bottle here and one bottle there A little bit of care on every stair Hum the waltz, hum it low Lamplight fading, morning's glow