Track 4 of the album Kitchen Table Hymnal · 2022
Mrs. Okafor's Piano Room
“Plastic on the sofa and a metronome ticking slow in Mrs. Okafor's front room. She taught half the street to play.”
country · piano-room country · joyful twang · 3:53
Lyrics
Tuesday at four in a front-room studio Plastic on the sofa, metronome ticking slow Mrs. Okafor in her reading glasses Said, child, you're rushing, let the whole note grow I was nine with my fingers like sausages Hammering every key I could find She didn't wince, she just tapped the time And said, listen, honey, music's kind She taught me how to find the pocket Taught me how to let it swing Said a song's not a race, it's a porch and a rocker Settle in and let it sing Now I'm up on a stage in a town she never saw Slide guitar crying through the floor But every time I land the groove I hear her say, one more She kept peppermints in a cracked blue dish Paid me in praise when I played it right Sent me home with a song that I swore I hated Played it every day until it felt like light When my daddy lost his job that spring She never charged me for a single week Said, music's not for the folks who can pay It's for the ones who can't speak She taught me how to find the pocket Taught me how to let it swing Said a song's not a race, it's a porch and a rocker Settle in and let it sing Now I'm up on a stage in a town she never saw Slide guitar crying through the floor But every time I land the groove I hear her say, one more Thank you for the peppermints Thank you for the patience Thank you for the Tuesday afternoons And the quiet in my hands She taught me how to find the pocket Taught me how to let it swing Said a song's not a race, it's a porch and a rocker Settle in and let it sing Now I'm up on a stage in a town she never saw Slide guitar crying through the floor But every time I land the groove I hear her say, one more I hear her say, one more Let it swing, one more