Some Bartenders Have The Gift Of Pardon - Mark Eitzel

Spec’s almost drowned off the coast of California

And started this museum

To help the shipwrecked remember

They grow quiet

The sea grows colder

Drinking the night away

Burn bridges grow older

Kent worked at Spec’s since 1970

Right after Haight Street finally choked on its own vomit

An impartial smile made him a gentleman

Some bartenders have the gift of pardon

A bar has a longer history than a country

What keeps the moon chained

Are ridiculous acts of faith

And after a couple of drinks

Visionary eyes all burn

The drunks seem saint-like

In their disillusion

Kent always knew the serious nature of a smile

Knew the serious nature of the job he was given

Never told himself there’s only so much a man could take on

Some bartenders have the gift of pardon

With the same old tape wearing out in the background

Billie Holiday «Solitude»

Or some sad old Irish folk songs

You’re not promised the moon

Or lied to by its distractions

You enter the world alone

And that’s the first and the last thing

It seems one night he was having a hard time falling asleep

And found himself in an accidental shipwreck

Dreaming he’s still at the bar counting sheep

The cold ocean threw its chains around his neck

Never have to worry about counterfeits at 2 a.

m

'Cause that’s all there is

'Cause that’s all there is

Just some old poets drinking

The last nightmare in

And the comfort of the dark

And being forgotten

Some bartenders have the gift of pardon

Some bartenders have the gift of pardon