Lyrics

Forget about Paris, don't need New York
Gonna hit the highway, headed north
Up to Saratoga, where old friends meet
At a small cafe down Phila Street

Up the stairs, turn to the right
There's a welcome in the fading light
A wooden stage and a microphone stand
A crooked smile and an open hand

Chorus:

Brand new strings on an old guitar
Make it ring like a bell, shine like a star
Play me one sweet, sad song from yesterday
Sing it all night long at this old cafe

From the nearly famous to the truly great
For forty years they've played this stage
From the cool college student to the street-worn stray
They all came to Lena's to hear 'em play

So many ghosts of tune and rhyme
A few remembered, most lost to time
As if they vanished without a trace
But I see them all in each singer's face

Chorus

Now, Lena Spencer has passed and gone
But this cafe still carries on
With dreams for the future, strength from the past
And a bit of luck we'll make it last

Yes, Lena Spencer will come no more
Up the narrow stairs, through the swinging door
But her spirit's smiling from a corner seat
Of this old cafe down Phila Street

Chorus