Before the Small Talk

I said the true thing first, before the small talk, [Verse 1] Marcus dialled the number, found the nerve last spring, laughed at the weather, laughed at everything. I heard the true thing rise up in his throat — then it went back down, riding on the joke. A year he's walked with that stone in his shoe, smiling at doorsteps it never got through. [Chorus] I said the true thing first, before the small talk, thank you — that's all, and I said it plain. No speech in my pocket, no lines rehearsed, just the true thing first, before the small talk came. [Verse 2] Sunday, I dialled my father's number slow, the ring went twice and my courage went once. He said hello like it was any old day, so I skipped the weather and I led with this: "Thank you — for the door left open, the plates left warm, for the plate left out, and not a word about it." It came out crooked, it came out small — but it came out first, and that was all. Mine stayed in the shoe until the words were out. [Chorus] I said the true thing first, before the small talk, thank you — that's all, and I said it plain. No speech in my pocket, no lines rehearsed, just the true thing first, before the small talk came. [Bridge] Then eleven minutes of nothing much at all — the roof, the rain, the neighbour's dog. And he laughed and told me, same as he said hello, a son doesn't owe his father a speech. the kettle clicking off, the tea gone cold — just that much, on an ordinary Sunday. [Final Chorus] I said the true thing first, before the small talk, thank you — that's all, and I said it plain. No speech in my pocket, no lines rehearsed — I set my stone down by the door, and the rest was just eleven minutes of rain.