Wynn Stewart – The Tourist

THE TOURIST

Writer Wynn Stewart and Curtis Leach

Copyright 1965

I was just a tourist out on the great white way

Where lights make night as bright as day and day as dark as night

I visited the city seen all the finer sights

Then I thought I’d do some slummin’ for a little while one night

Well I stepped into the shadows of a second rate cafe

The burlesques were before me in their old familiar way

As I drew near my table the front girl whirled around

And I recognized my sweetheart from my own hometown

Yes she was just a hometown high school beauty queen

But everybody told her how she could be everything

When the contest finally ended and the judges called her name

She won a trip to Broadway where she would find the fame

I slowly turned around and stepped back into crowd

For I knew she mustn’t seen me she always was too proud

And in that one lonely moment the truth my mind unveiled

The town she loved may failed her the town she thought she failed

So that night I wrote a letter on a homeward bound express

And it read congratulations to you on your success

But if you should ever decide to come back home again

Well you know I’ll always be here waitin’ just like I’ve always been

I was just a tourist out on the great white way

Where lights made night as bright as day and day as bright as night

When old friends ask about her I just smile at them and say

She’s star of show on Broadway out on the great white way