[Verse 1] I come fresh from the street, fast on my feet Kinda lean and lazy Not much meat on my bones and a whole lot alone And more than a little bit crazy The old six string was all I had To keep my belly still And for each full hour lesson I gave I got a crisp ten dollar bill [Verse 2] She was married for seven years To a concrete castle king She said she wanted to learn to play the guitar And to hear her children sing So I'd show up about once a week In my faded tight-legged jeans With a backlog full of hobo stories And dilapidated dreams [Chorus] She said, "I wanna learn a love song Full of happy things" She said, "I wanna learn a love song Won't you let me hear you sing?" She said, "I wanna learn a love song I wanna hear you play" She said, "I wanna learn a love song Before you go away" [Verse 3] So I tried to teach her a couple of chords And an easy melody But it always turned out she'd rather listen To my guitar and me I could hear her old man laughing in the den Playing stud poker with the boys While I sang so soft in the living room Too scared to make much noise [Verse 4] I came one week, the den was dark And she met me at the door And we sat on the couch and we sang and talked 'Til I could not sing no more The silence kept on building Her eyes grew much too wide And I could hear both of our heartbeats But there was no place to hide [Chorus] She said, "I wanna learn a love song Full of happy things" She said, "I wanna learn a love song Won't you let me hear you sing?" She said, "I wanna learn a love song I wanna hear you play" She said, "I wanna learn a love song Before you go away" [Verse 5] Well, I guess you know what happened God I, I never been so clean Yes, I feel like I'm working in a Hollywood movie Or living out a good bad dream And all them pin-up girls in that tinsel world Never touched me like she can It took another man's wife in the real world life To make this boy a man [Chorus] She said, "I wanna learn a love song Full of happy things" She said, "I wanna learn a love song Won't you let me hear you sing?" She said, "I wanna learn a love song I wanna hear you play" She said, "I wanna learn a love song Before you go away" [Outro] I guess you know I stayed (Ooh)