Lyrics

Cafes in Paris

Copyright 2004
Dan Pelletier

You gotta make love and you gotta make a living, so much to be made
There are plans and appointments bills to be paid
So much of love wears down on those stones
Broken dreams, broken promises, broken hearts, broken homes

But there’s a café in Paris, where none of that matters
Where dreams don’t get beat up and torn into tatters
You and I drink strong coffee, and I don’t miss you anymore
I guess that’s what cafés in Paris are for

When first we were lovers, we were springtime and gay
We were Versailles and Montmartre, we were Champs-de-Lysees
We were Bergman and Bogart, timeless and free
For our hearts lived in Paris and would leave us their key
When did our road turn to this rough gravel?
Did we lose our way, or just forget how to travel?

But there’s a café in Paris, where none of that matters
Where dreams don’t get washed out and painted in shadows
You and I drink strong coffee, and I don’t miss you anymore
I guess that’s what cafés in Paris are for

I’ve got French bread and wine tucked under my arm
I’m the picture of romance and continental charm
I bought me a beret, and I think I might don it
There’s a table at the café and it’s got our name on it,
You read de Beauvoir and I’ll read Camus
And if only we smoked we might share one or two
And we can’t speak the language, no matter how hard we try
Still we laugh at the touristes, and the odd passersby
And I don’t care the weather, there’s an awning will cover
I’ll lean back in my chair and feel like a lover again
At a café in Paris, hard by the Seine, that we’ve never been to
But I’d like to take you again