Ben's My Friend

I woke up this morning, August, 3rd
 It's been a pretty slow and uneventful summer
 Went to visit a friend in Santa Fe
 Went to New Orleans and went to see my family
 Woke up this morning and it occurred
 I needed one more track to finish up the record
 I was feeling out of fuel and uninspired
 Laid in my bed too long, a little down, a little tired
 I met my girl and we walked down Union Street
 I was scared and my head was in a bunch of places
 Bought a 350 dollar pair of lampshades
 And we ate at Perry's and we ordered crab cakes
 Blue crab cakes
 Blue crab cakes
 Blue crab cakes
 She said I seemed distracted and asked what's going on with me
 I said I can't explain it, it's a middle age thing
 She said okay and ate her eggs Benedict
 And I looked at the walls cluttered with sports bar shit
 Sports bar shit
 Sports bar shit
 Sports bar shit
 ♪
 Got on the phone and I called my mother
 And called my father, talked a little bit with my sister
 She's got a new boyfriend, he's a deer hunter
 And she's getting used to venison
 And my dad's still fighting with his girlfriend
 About his flirting with the girls in Panera Bread
 My momma's good but she sounded out of breath
 I worry so much about her, I worry to death
 I worry to death
 I worry about her to death
 I worry to death
 The other night I went and saw The Postal Service
 Ben's my friend but getting there was the worst
 Tryna park and getting up the hill
 And find a spot amongst the drunk kids staring at their cells
 Staring at the back at the crowd of eight thousand
 Thought of Ben when I met him, in 2000
 At a festival in Spain, he was on a small stage then
 And I didn't know his name
 Now he's singing at the Greek and he's busting moves
 And my legs were hurt and then my feet were, too
 I called him after, said, "I'll skip the backstage "Hi/Bye"
 But thanks for the nice music and all the exercise"
 And we laughed and it was alright
 And we laughed and it was alright
 It was alright
 There's a thin line between a middle-aged guy with a backstage pass
 And a guy with a gut hangin' around like a jackass
 Everybody was 20 years younger than me
 At least I leave with this as my fondest memory
 I carried my legs back down the hill
 Gave my backstage pass to two cute Asian girls
 I drove to my place near Tahoe
 Got in my hot tub and I thought, "Well, that's how it goes"
 It was quiet and I was listening to the crickets
 And Ben's still out there, selling lots of tickets
 And though I'm tentative there's attention better than this
 But Ben's my friend and I know he gets it
 Then in a couple of days my meltdown passed
 Back to the studio doing twelve-hour shifts
 Singing a song about one thing or another
 Another day behind the microphone this summer
 This tenderloin summer
 This tenderloin summer
 This tenderloin summer