about the long yellow crayon
The more used the color, the shorter the crayon. 
In Seattle, ocean blue and forest green are worn to a nub, 
But what is the fate of the yellow, 
Which in other towns is used to draw the sun?

This was the theme song for a musical about Seattle, called, 
'Seattle, Land of the Long Yellow Crayon.'

The Long Yellow Crayon
By Judith Kay and Mike Pryor
c:1994	

[Verse 1]
C           Am
All Seattle children
Dm7                    G
Just love to draw with crayons
C                 Am                 Dm7  G
Green crayons get short from drawing leaves
C                 Am
Brown gets really short 
           Dm7                 G
Because of tree trunks and the mountains
C                  Am
Blue gets all worn down 
         Dm7           G
From the water and the fountains
        C              E
But the longest crayon in the box 
   F            
Is such a lonely fellow
         Dm7
Since we never see the sun - -
                 G
We never use the yellow!


[CHORUS] ===========================
            C          Am
But there's one bright day
       Dm7         F
In the middle of July
         C         Am
When the sun comes out
        F           G
It's a jewel in the sky
        F 
And the birds rise up 
           G               Am
With their babies at their wings
        C          
And the Yellow crayon leaves the box
   F          G     G          
To draw these sunny things
====================================

[Verse 2]
C             Am           
Every year we have a wind 
     Dm7                   G
That knocks down trees all over
C              Am             
Powerlines are down for weeks
    Dm7            G
And we all run for cover
C                 E         
Bridges that were s'posed to float
F
All of them go under
Dm7
"Why do I live here?"
           G
I start to wonder!

[Repeat CHORUS] 

[Verse 3 -- Chords like Verse 2]
Every time we have a snow
It buries the whole city
Semi's jacknifed by the score
Cars are left there sitting
The one snowplow the city owns
They say it's on the way
But if you have to drive uphill
You'd better start to pray

[Repeat CHORUS]

[Verse 4 -- Chords like Verse 2]
Earthquake faults growling at our feet
Volcanos all around us erupting every week
Flooding on the rivers
Drowning trains and cars
Bigfoots, thousands of them 
Getting drunk in all the bars

[Repeat CHORUS]


[Verse 5 -- Chords like Verse 2]
All Seattle children
None of us are greedy
We send our unused yellows
To children in Tahiti
And those children are very nice
They send theirs right back to me
Crayons good for drawing clouds 
Grey and black and gloomy

[Repeat CHORUS and Done]


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