We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

When I Finally Learn to Love (Don't Let It Be Too Late)

from The Devil's Share by Steven Heighton

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 CAD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

lyrics

WHEN I FINALLY LEARN TO LOVE (DON’T LET IT BE TOO LATE)

I was losing my shirt
Aboard the conman’s yacht
At a table of baize by the pool
He said, “Losing is worst, but winning gets lonely
When you run out of friends you can fool”
Then he confided this guidance to me
And it stunned me to hear him say it
“Son, when you finally learn to love
Don’t let it be too late”

I caught Don Juan
With his jeans still on
In a bar watching country TV
“I’m too tired to check out the women,” he sighed,
“And now they’ve quit looking back at me”
Then he just nodded at words on the screen
I guess he preferred not to say it
Lord, when I finally learn to love
Don’t let it be too late

When I finally learn to love
Don’t let it be too late
Let it not be said when I’m stone cold dead
“He knew the word but he wouldn’t say it”
So if you know the tune, lay it down soon
If you’re feeling a prayer then pray it
Lord, when you finally learn to love
Don’t let it be too late

Another old fraud
Was getting nearer to God
Downing Scotch and recounting his crash
He said, “Do you figure there’s girls after greed
Or does love disappear with the cash?”
And then he scribbled this note on the bill
After hinting he hoped that I’d pay it
“Friend, when you finally learn to love
Don’t let it be too late”

A woman who knew me
Once promised to show me
And she taught me all night until waking
“You tell me you don’t know what love is,” she said,
“But you know this is love that we’re making”
And now every time her gift crosses my mind
I wish I could finally repay it
If I ever do learn to say the word
Don’t let it be too late

The head believes it’s the one in charge
And the heart’s a lowly driver
But when the crash comes, and come it will,
There’ll be just one survivor

On a bench in the park
As day leaned into dark
He was sitting in his famous grey suit
He’d been dead for a year but looked no worse for wear
And I said, “Leonard, what got you through it?”
He just hummed a few bars of a song,
Said “If you work out the words you can play it
And when you finally learn to love
Don’t let it be too late”

When I finally learn to love
Don’t let it be too late
Let it not be said when I’m stone cold dead
“He knew the word but he wouldn’t say it”
So if you know the tune, belt it out soon
If you’re feeling a prayer then pray it
Lord, when you finally learn to love
Don’t let it be too late

credits

from The Devil's Share, released April 24, 2021
Lyrics and music by Steven Heighton. © 2020 Steven Heighton/Hightone Music (SOCAN).

Hugh Christopher Brown: piano, backing vocals
Teilhard Frost: percussion
Steven Heighton: vocals and guitar
Craig “Rocky” Roberts: lapsteel

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Steven Heighton image

Steven Heighton Kingston, Ontario

Heighton is the author of 18 books--novels, poetry, stories, and nonfiction. He has published work in Granta, the New York Times, Tin House, London Review of Books, Best American Poetry, and many others. His first album, "The Devil's Share," produced by Hugh Christopher Brown of Wolfe Island Records, will be released April 21, 2021. ... more

contact / help

Contact Steven Heighton

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Steven Heighton, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now