The Minstrel Song
Words & Music by Alan Bell - Tamlyn Music Limited
(Recorded by Tom Lewis on Demand Performance)
When I was a young lad and eager
For the footlights and fortune and fame,
I met an old trouper -- his name it was Sam --
And he taught me the rules of the game.
He showed me the ways of the theatre,
How always the show must go on.
I learned how to enter, to stand, take a bow,
Whenever I sang his song:
(Chorus:) Goodbye and adieu and farewell.
I've loved you but now I must leave you
With a smile and a song as we part.
The show's over. It's time to be gone.
But perhaps I will see you next year,
When I'll have some more tales to amuse you,
And many more tunes you will hear.
I'm a minstrel, a peddler of songs.
I've worked all the small country theatres,
And toured round the old music halls.
I've died in the first house on a wet Monday night,
But I've lived to take six curtain calls.
I've starved like a beggar on Broadway
And been broke down the Champs-Elysée.
But when the show's over and the curtain came down,
I could always smile and say: (Chorus)
I've courted the girls in the chorus,
And lingered in many a late bar.
I've gazed up in awe at my name in bright lights.
To think I had become a star!
I once loved a beauty named Nancy
Whose loving was so sweet and strong,
But she wanted a house and some kids and a dog
So sadly I sang my song: (Chorus)
So I've spent all my life entertaining
And lived by the stage door routine.
I've had many chances, and missed quite a few.
I'm not yearning for what might have been.
Now many long years lie behind me,
And I hope there are still some to come,
When I stand on the stage with the house lights turned down,
As the audience sings my song: (Chorus)
