Simple Joys

Sweet summer evenings, hot wine and bread

Sharing your supper, sharing your bed

Simple joys have a simple voice

It says, why not go ahead?

And wouldn't you

Rather be a left-handed flea

A crab on a slab at the bottom of the sea

Than a man who never learns how to be free

Not till he's cold and dead

Well, I'll sing you the story of a sorrowful lad

Had everything he wanted, didn't want what he had

He had wealth and pelf and name and fame

And all of that noise

He didn't have none of those simple joys

His life seemed purposeless and flat

Aren't you glad you don't feel like that?

So he ran from all the deeds he'd done

He ran things he'd just begun

He ran from himself, which is mighty far to run

Out into the country where he'd played as a boy

He knew he had to find him some simple joys

He wanted someplace warm and green

We all could use a change of scene

Sweet summer evenings so full of sound

Gaining a lover, you're gaining a pound

Simple joys have a simple voice

It says take a look around

And wouldn't you

Rather be a left-handed flea

A crab on a slab at the bottom of the sea

A newt on the root of a banyan tree

Than a man that never learns how to be free

Not till he's underground

Sweet summer evenings, sapphire skies

Feasting your belly, you're feasting your eyes

Simple joys have a simple voice

It says time is a living's prize

And wouldn't you

Rather be a left-handed flea

A crab on a slab at the bottom of the sea

A newt on the root of a banyan tree

A fig on a twig in Galilee

Than a man who never learns how to be free

Not till the day he, not till the day he

Not till the day, not till the day he dies