What the Folk!

Bret's Love Song

I was wandering through the streets of the city
rambling through the avenues of time
When from nowhere my eyes fell onto a girl
and by chance her eyes fell onto mine

(Oh)

So I sat and I acted all nonchalant
she smoked her lavender cigarette
reading the future that lay in my hands
as my shadow played a bass clarinet

(Where are you going with this, Bret?)

We waltzed down a moonlit boulevard
Just two silhouettes in the mist

(Ah, yes)

Days went by and years went by
Moments went by when we kissed

(When was this?)

She said "your beard is woven of heartache
and we'll drink for the lonely tonight"
and the moon is a horny old drunkard

(Uh, Bret, could you please move over to your right?)

we drank dandelion wine and we reminisced
about the moment when we first met that day

(I'm trying to watch TV)

then we reminisced about how we first reminisced

(Oh yeah? Sounds a bit gay)

She handed me a broken memory
A keepsake to forevermore save
For a brief taste of love is as sweet as any
And with that she made her way

(So did you... did you get the bread? or...)

Oh, no. I forgot.

('cause, I've been waiting here with all my sandwich fillings all ready)

Yeah, I was just really busy thinking about this girl

(What was her name?)

She said her name was a secret
Then she said her name was Cheri

(Is her middle name Cheri? So it's a secret Cheri, maybe?)

Maybe

(What does she look like?)

She looked like a Parisian river

(What, dirty?)

She looked like a chocolate eclair

(That's rare)

Her eyes were reflections of eyes

(Oh, nice)

And the rainbows danced in her hair

(Aw, yeah)

She reminded me of a winter's morning

(Aw, frigid?)

Her perfume was Eau de Toilet

(what does that mean?)

She was comparable to Cleopatra

(Quite old)

She's like Shakespeare's Juliet

(Oh, thirteen?)

The bohemians of SoHo did pirouettes
As we waltzed through the streets of Manhattan
On rivers of ribbon and sailboats of song

(Bret, did any of this actually happen?)

There's a girl I describe she's as real as the wind
It's true I saw her today
The other details are inventions
Because I prefer her that way.

Yeah, it's a beautiful song.

What artist did it remind me of.

The whole time Bret was singing the song I was hearing someone else croon something else

Chorded!
(the same pattern carries all the way through, with change of instrumentation, so I'll quit after a few verses)
[The bass follows the note changes documented in the chords, one pluck each]

______D__________________D/C#________D/B___D/A
I was wandering through the streets of the city
G_________________G/F#______Em____A7
rambling through the avenues of time
D___________________D/C#_________D/B_____D/A
When from nowhere my eyes fell onto a girl
G____________________G/F#_____Em_____A7
and by chance her eyes fell onto mine

(Oh)

So I sat and I acted all nonchalant
she smoked her lavender cigarette
reading the future that lay in my hands
as my shadow played a bass clarinet

(Where are you going with this, Bret?)

We waltzed down a moonlit boulevard
Just two silhouettes in the mist

(Ah, yes)

Days went by and years went by
Moments went by when we kissed

(When was this?)

She said "your beard is woven of heartache
and we'll drink for the lonely tonight"
and the moon is a horny old drunkard

(Uh, Bret, could you please move over to your right?)

we drank dandelion wine and we reminisced
about the moment when we first met that day

(I'm trying to watch TV)

then we reminisced about how we first reminisced

(Oh yeah? Sounds a bit gay)

She handed me a broken memory
A keepsake to forevermore save
For a brief taste of love is as sweet as any
And with that she made her way

(So did you... did you get the bread? or...)

Oh, no. I forgot.

('cause, I've been waiting here with all my sandwich fillings all ready)

Yeah, I was just really busy thinking about this girl

(What was her name?)

She said her name was a secret
Then she said her name was Cheri

(Is her middle name Cheri? So it's a secret Cheri, maybe?)

Maybe

(What does she look like?)

She looked like a Parisian river

(What, dirty?)

She looked like a chocolate eclair

(That's rare)

Her eyes were reflections of eyes

(Oh, nice)

And the rainbows danced in her hair

(Aw, yeah)

She reminded me of a winter's morning

(Aw, frigid?)

Her perfume was Eau de Toilet

(what does that mean?)

She was comparable to Cleopatra

(Quite old)

She's like Shakespeare's Juliet

(Oh, thirteen?)

The bohemians of SoHo did pirouettes
As we waltzed through the streets of Manhattan
On rivers of ribbon and sailboats of song

(Bret, did any of this actually happen?)

There's a girl I describe she's as real as the wind
It's true I saw her today
The other details are inventions
Because I prefer her that way.

It was definitely a nod to "Piano Man" by Billy Joel.

I was reminded ever so gently of this

And the chords have been accurately compared by others to those of this one. Transposed up a step.

That's it. As soon as I heard the first 3 notes it clicked. Yup. This one.

Yes! As we were watching it I told my friend that the song sounded like it belonged in a Wes Anderson film.

I loved this song. A beautiful song indeed.

Agreed, this is such a beautiful song with comedic yet some very sweet lyrics

Have we gotten an official title for this song yet? I've seen it under a few different names.

Someone may have recently figured out the official title of the song after grabbing the setlist after a show: "Romantic Waltz". It makes sense because someone else pointed out that the music is in the form of a waltz (it's in 3) . What do you guys think?

Hmmm, definitely possible that that's the title, it's in 3, so it is technically a waltz...

On YouTube the song is simply titled "Bret's Day". Is that the actual title, or just the title that was given to the song because nobody knew the real one?

After the show in Chicago, I complimented Bret on singing that song. I called it "the nonchalant song" because I didn't know the name of the song. He laughed a little and said they didn't really have a name for it, and that name was pretty good. (sigh) Now you know why I chose my screenname. I would tell you the rest of the story of the night I met Bret and Jemaine, but 95% of it would not be true. (but that bit was)