Busker's Wages

I got beans, tea, and pennies to dollars,
Canadian, Euros, and Pounds.
I found some bar on a card with some scratch on the back,
It says, "One drink for free. Just stop in sometime, it's on me.
Bring your guitar, sing of rising moons, whiskey, and jars."
And if I had a dime for each cigarette...
Lint, after-dinner mints and bread. A ten
From father and toddler that smiled for a medley and said,
"Here's to luck! You're pretty damn good, keep it up.
If ever you make it on music TV think of us."

I'd earn busker's wages,
Read life between pages and lines.

A fiddle and Matty O'Boyle and I, with six wires,
Creep out for a strum and a saw,
Singin' songs 'til the cops sing along.

So tonight, I walk by the old corner,
Some stranger has taken my place.
I'll scrape the crumbs off my pocket
And spice up a clarinet case.

I'd earn busker's wages,
Read life between pages and lines.

Now when I snap up and wrap up for the drive,
I think of the best money I've ever made in my life.