Mr. Tanner lyrics

Artist  : Harry Chapin 
Song : Mr. Tanner



 Send "Mr. Tanner" Ringtone to your Cell 

 Mister Tanner was a cleaner from a town in the
Midwest.

And of all the cleaning shops around he'd made
his the best.

But he also was a baritone who sang while hanging
clothes.

He practiced scales while pressing tails and sang
at local shows.

His friends and neighbors praised the voice that
poured out from his throat.

They said that he should use his gift instead of
cleaning coats.



But music was his life, it was not his
livelihood,

and it made him feel so happy and it made him
feel so good.

And he sang from his heart and he sang from his
soul.

He did not know how well he sang; It just made
him whole.



His friends kept working on him to try music out
full time.

A big debut and rave reviews, a great career to
climb.

Finally they got to him, he would take the
fling.

A concert agent in New York agreed to have him
sing.

And there were plane tickets, phone calls, money
spent to rent the hall.

It took most of his savings but he gladly used
them all.



But music was his life, it was not his
livelihood,

and it made him feel so happy and it made him
feel so good.

And he sang from his heart and he sang from his
soul.

He did not know how well he sang; It just made
him whole.



The evening came, he took the stage, his face set
in a smile.

And in the half filled hall the critics sat
watching on the aisle.

But the concert was a blur to him, spatters of
applause.

He did not know how well he sang, he only heard
the flaws.

But the critics were concise, it only took four
lines.

But no one could accuse them of being over
kind.



(spoken) Mr. Martin Tanner, Baritone, of Dayton,
Ohio made his

Town Hall debut last night. He came well
prepared, but unfortunately

his presentation was not up to contemporary
professional standards.

His voice lacks the range of tonal color
necessary to make it

consistently interesting.

(sung) Full time consideration of another
endeavor might be in order.



He came home to Dayton and was questioned by his
friends.

Then he smiled and just said nothing and he never
sang again,

excepting very late at night when the shop was
dark and closed.

He sang softly to himself as he sorted through
the clothes.

Music was his life, it was not his
livelihood,

and it made him feel so happy and it made him
feel so good.

And he sang from his heart and he sang from his
soul.

He did not know how well he sang; It just made
him whole.