Lori McKenna – The Balladeer lyrics

The balladeer waits in the wings
Tugging on her dress, tuning her strings
All her whiskey faded cigarette blown dreams
She brings herself to her own knees with every line so delicate

She sings every song that she knows
The way that she hears 'em, sad and slow
They're never gonna play her on the radio
So she hangs in the darkest bars with downtrodden bleeding hearts

A guitar man there who knew all the chords
Said he needed her to help him find the words
The balladeer never loved anybody more
It was magic but she worried what if she ran out of the pain

She carried round with her, so proud
She wore it like a queen wears a crown
She didn't know who she'd be if she put it down
So he brought her to the river where she could wash the trouble

From her heart and let it shine like gold
Felt like angels pouring mercy on her soul
And the weight of the world, she let it go
And she sang for the first time with her head held high and so much pride

It opened up new notes in her throat
There was joy in every new song she wrote
They got a bus and traveled coast to coast
Drinking with their friends and strangers and business people called to say

That she was finally headed for the stars
Or at least the top of the charts
They changed her clothes and bought fancy cars
Till the guitar man caught the eye of a pretty background singer with the blues
Oh, oh, oh...

The guitar man cried 'cause he done her wrong
The background singer took the next flight home
And the balladeer wrote herself a song
About brokenhearted dreamers who are searching for something they'll never find
Mmm, mmm, mmm...