The Singer Behind The Counter
single
The Singer Behind The Counter
Here’s a working portrait that never reaches for anything grander than the truth of its own days: a baker before dawn, a singer at Payton’s Place two nights a week, a tip jar full of change. At 136 in G major, it moves with an easy, driving lope, and the arrangement earns its keep by keeping the verses close and letting the full band open up on the chorus. That hook, ‘I like to work when it feels honest / I love a song when it sounds like mine,’ is the whole ethic of the record in two lines, plainspoken enough to sing back the first time through. The bridge is where it quietly lands the plane: ‘Some days I just feel heavy / like I have to stop the grind,’ answered by ‘She says You did good / and that’s enough,’ a small domestic grace note that keeps the song from tipping into self-pity. It shares some DNA with John Hiatt at his most grounded, more content with its lot than restless. Not the boldest swing on the album, and the outro’s repeated ‘I’m doing fine’ leans on comfort rather than surprise, but it holds the room and does its job well.
Lyrics
I'm a baker in the morning At the local grocery store I'm a singer in the evening Two nights a week, sometimes more The smell of yeast and bacon grease Meets the growing morning light While the baking pays the bills My mind drifts to the songs I'll sing
Later on tonight
I like to work when it feels honest I love a song when it sounds like mine I'm the singer behind the counter And I'm doing fine
The bar in town is Payton's Place Tables, chairs, a tiny stage Just enough for the three of us And a tip jar full of change We play a mix of has-been hits A little bit of everything Some dance, some leave, no regrets Every time I get to sing
It's a good night
I like to work when it feels honest I love a song when it sounds like mine I'm the singer behind the counter And I'm doing fine
Some mornings come too early Some nights my voice is gone A hundred little details checked Before the show goes on Some days I just feel heavy Like I have to stop the grind But when the bread is done Or the song is sung She says "You did good" And that's enough
I like to work when it feels honest I love a song when it sounds like mine I'm the singer behind the counter And I'm still doing fine
Yeah… Yeah… I’m doing fine