The Man in the Shop

The man in the shop he taught me a lot
But I only met him twice
I’d walked past his door for 20 years or more
I never thought about his life
I brought him my deck, my dad’s old Dansette
In need of TLC
The door gave a ring and I entered in
It felt like 1963

A friend of mine said all the dreams are dead
They were over by ‘72
The only dream left that we couldn’t wreck
Is the one we doubt is true

Now it’s nothing like the old days
But I can’t go back in time
Things were different back in those days
But they never will be mine
It’s nothing like the old days
I was born at the wrong time
Things were different back in those days
They’re always on my mind

The shop was top to floor in old amps and more
He said he liked to work on these
Because you never get bored with the old circuit boards
But now it’s mostly LCDs
He said when he was young his friend had one
They used to bring their records round
And happily drinking coffee or tea
They’d listen to the sounds

A friend of mine said all the dreams are dead
They were over by ‘72
The only dream left that we couldn’t wreck
Is the one we doubt is true

Now it’s nothing like the old days
But I can’t go back in time
Things were different back in those days
But they never will be mine
It’s nothing like the old days
I was born at the wrong time
Things were different back in those days
They’re always on my mind

A black and white movie for company
His glasses balanced on his nose
He gave me a card I asked him what was the charge
He said fifty pounds or so
He rang next week, he said he gave it a tweak
The parts weren’t hard to trace
So I called right in, I thought that people like him
Can never be replaced

A friend of mine said all the dreams are dead
They were over by ‘72
The only dream left that we couldn’t wreck
Is the one we doubt is true

Now it’s nothing like the old days
But I can’t go back in time
Things were different back in those days
But they never will be mine
It’s nothing like the old days
I was born at the wrong time
Things were different back in those days
He said, “It’s only in your mind.”