Lyrics

Aces the Dog

Copyright 2013
Dan Pelletier

Aces the dog he lives down by the churchyard,
In the summer he sleeps by the old maple tree
In the winter the lady next door takes him in
And I swear he lives better than me

Aces the dog’s got no means of support
At least none that I’ve noticed yet
But he’s handsome and charming and his tail wag is disarming
And he always seems clean and well fed

And he howls at the moon and he barks at fast cars
Licks his own wounds when he’s sore
He buries his treasures out in my backyard
And does not seem to need too much more

Aces the dog sees me rush off to work
I balance my bagel as I button my shirt
When I trip on the ball that he’s laid there to play
He hangs his old head in a pitying way

Aces the dog’s got a girl on each street
I guess every dog must have her day
But I lately I notice he’s more and more sweet
On that poodle down Sullivan Way

And he howls at the moon and he barks at fast cars
And growls at the angry and mean
He’s either having a ball or he's sleeping it off
And does not seem to do all that much in between

It was my very worst hour of my very worst day
And I stumbled on home in the very worst way
And that cur on my step, blocked my clear path inside
So I pulled back my foot to kick his sorry brown hide

He hung his old head, as his canine heart broke
Then a smile curled his lips like he’d heard a good joke
And as my shamed, harmless foot fell back into the dirt
He lifted his head and he spoke:

He said “Dig if you love to dig, bark if you have to bark,
chase your tail, if you like running around,
But my friend if you want to learn how to fly free,
You can’t keep both paws on the ground,”

Then he turned back around and showed me his rear end
As if to say “Kick if you must kick my friend”
But I picked up the ball that lay there at our feet
And Aces and me chased it all down the street,

Aces and me we live down by the churchyard
In the summer we sleep by the old maple tree
In the winter the lady next door takes us in
And I’m about as happy as an old dog can be

Cause we howl at the moon and we bark at fast cars
And we do not seem to need too much more
For as Aces will say, “If you love where you are,
What are you hurrying for? What are you hurrying for?”