Guitar and Pen (Olympic ’78 Mix) - The Who

You’re alone above the street somewhere Wondering how you’ll ever count out there You can walk, you can talk, you can fight But inside you’ve got something to write In your hand you hold your only friend Never spend your guitar or your pen Your guitar or your pen Your guitar or your pen Your guitar or your pen Your guitar or your pen When you take up a pencil and sharpen it up When you’re kicking the fence and still nothing will budge When the words are immobile until you sit down Never feel they’re worth keeping, they’re not easily found Then you know in some strange, unexplainable way You must really have something Jumping, thumping, fighting, hiding away Important to say When you sing through the verse and you end in a scream And you swear and you curse ’cause the rhyming ain’t clean But it suddenly comes after years of delay You pick up your guitar, you can suddenly play When your fingers are bleeding and the knuckles are white Then you can be sure, you can open the door Get off of the floor tonight You have something to write When you want to complain, there’s no one can stop you But when your music proclaims, there’s no one can top you You are wearing you heart on your jumping feet You’ve got a head start away from the street But is that what you want, to be rich and be gone? Could be there’s just one thing left in the end Your guitar and your pen When you sing to your mum, and you hum and you croon And she says that she’d like it “with more of a tune“ And you smash your guitar at the end of the bed Then you stick it together and start writing again And you know that it won’t be too long ’til your back To bring her some money, she’s calling you “honey“ Stashed in a bloody great sack In your Cadillac You’re alone You’re alone You’re alone above the street somewhere Wondering how you’ll ever count out there You can walk, you can talk, you can fight But inside you’ve got something to write In your hand you hold your only friend Never spend your guitar or your pen Your guitar or your pen Your guitar or your pen Your guitar or your pen Your guitar or your pen Your guitar or your pen Your guitar or your pen Your guitar or your pen Your guitar or your pen Never spend your guitar or your pen