I Was Here

Song I Was Here
Artist Philip Quast
Album Live at the Donmar

Lyrics

[00:06.00] I've gone without bread, I've slept in the mud
[00:12.00] I've given my best while they 've screamed for my blood
[00:17.00] I've begged and I've bullied for any small chance to perform
[00:25.00] At nights I've awakened, my guts in a knot
[00:29.00] Remembering how much I gave up and for what
[00:34.00] Some paints and some costumes are a pitiful tent in a storm
[00:41.00] A handful of coins, a trunk always packed
[00:46.00] No family, no home, just this madness to act
[00:51.00] Still I have a theory about this disease we contract
[01:01.00] That most men are equally crazy as actors in fact
[01:18.00] Why does a boy carve his name on a tree?
[01:24.00] Or the first-born inherit the throne?
[01:29.00] What is a sculptor aspiring to be
[01:34.00] When he spends half his life carving stone?
[01:39.00] Kings build their tombs for the ages
[01:43.00] Poets and fools fill up their pages
[01:50.00] What are we hoping for? What do we fear?
[01:56.00] I say we yearn to leave something that lasts
[02:01.00] To be known for what little we've done
[02:06.00] Men tell their children the tales of their pasts
[02:10.00] And each man gives his name to his son
[02:14.00] Something in song or in story
[02:19.00] Something in blood, something of glory
[02:25.00] Something that won't fade away in a year
[02:31.00] Well, I will not flicker and die like an ember
[02:36.00] Too many men flicker and die
[02:40.00] I will leave something behind to remember
[02:45.00] Somehow I must - don't ask me why
[02:54.00] I have no wealth, at least none I can claim
[03:00.00] And no patience for carving in stone
[03:05.00] All that I have are my skill and my name
[03:10.00] And this chance to make both of them known
[03:17.00] This is my key to the portal
[03:21.00] How I can leave something immortal
[03:28.00] Something that time cannot make disappear
[03:33.00] Something to say: I was here!