Harry Chapin - The Mayor of Candor Lied Lyrics

In the little town of Candor in the last year of my youth
I learned the final lesson of the levels to the truth
My father was a farmer he'd go tilling in the ground
My mother was a neighbor she'd go visiting around.

But I didn't care.
For I had found the answer to a plowboy's lonely prayer.
She was the daughter of the Mayor.

The Mayor fought my courtship for he'd made other plans
He saw her married to a better man than a boy with farmer's hands.
I said -- I hate your father, it's so hard not to strike him.
She said --You know I love you because you're so much like him.

And so I'd go sneaking in the evening
And there she'd stand a crying in the dawn as I was leaving

But the Mayor of Candor lied
When he offered me his only daughter
The Mayor of Candor tried
To take her across the water
What a thing to do to a young man in love
What a thing to do to your daughter.

One day with father on his tractor and mother off again
I go to find the mayor and work out what I can
But he is not at his office, he is not at his home
When I find him in the countryside he is not alone

He is holding a woman and imagine my surprise
As she jumps back from his arms I look into my mother's eyes

All my thoughts of outrage, embarrassment and pain
Were washed away by what came roaring through my brain
The Mayor's at my mercy and I hear my own voice say --
Your run for re-election is just one month away.

And the world will never know of what I've seen here sir
But I'll be with your daughter is my meaning clear?

My mother looks in horror at the compromise we made
But the Mayor's rueful smile says the piper must be paid
I had a mont