Bake Sale

Louis Lichtman had a bakery at 86th and Amsterdam
 You'd smell the rising bread at least a couple blocks away
 For forty years a wedding cake of one kind or another
 Would occupy the Lichtman's Bakery window every day
 Then the world turned from pastry and from challah and from cookies
 From the independent merchant to the supermarket mall
 And the rents were rising faster than the loaves that they were earned on
 So the "Going Out of Business" sign appeared on Lichtman's wall
 The lights are out at Lichtman's now
 The building's cold and empty, with a cake stand in the window
 Your credit's fine, no money down
 And the Upper West Side doesn't smell as sweetly as it used to
 Back when Lichtman's Bakery graced our little town
 The final day of business came and with it Lichtman's regulars
 Paying their respects and taking in the sad details
 Mrs. Kaplan bought a dozen cakes, another, thirty strudels
 As the auctioneer prepared to start the sale
 Some sixty other bakers bid on ovens and on boxes
 There were mixers, there was shortening, there were bowls, and there were pans
 And the years were sifting through the racks at Louis Lichtman's bakery
 Like the flour and the sugar through his hands
 The lights are out at Lichtman's now
 The building's cold and empty, with a cake stand in the window
 The Daily Special sign fell down
 And the Upper West Side doesn't smell as sweetly as it used to
 Back when Lichtman's Bakery graced our little town
 The last of all the lots was sold, the frosting tubes and freezer
 Mr. Lichtman clutched his rolling pin and went to stand outside
 He didn't want to watch the auctioneer conclude his business
 And he didn't want his friends to see him cry
 A note left hanging on the wall
 It said that Mrs. Rosenthal still owed him 7 dollars
 That was a long, long time ago
 And the ceiling fan once spinning round for one last time was slowing down
 As forty years came turning to a close
 The lights are out at Lichtman's now
 The building's cold and empty, Mr. Lichtman moved to Jersey
 The neighborhood has changed around
 The Upper West Side doesn't smell as sweetly as it used to
 Back when Lichtman's Bakery graced our little town