Melody Melancholic Gifts

Why must you have "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" on the jukebox? A lot of people complained that "Happy Hour" was too happy.

"I've got those 'Don't worry about me, I'll just be here, all alone' blues."

"The artist-in-residence is struggling a bit, but other than that we're fine."

"Events seem to be headed in the right direction. Unfortunately, it's not taking me with it."

Neil Young

"These songbirds every morning at five A.M. would be really annoying if they weren't so damn talented."

Lord Byron

"These brisk fall afternoons remind me of Chekhov, which reminds me of Putin, then Trump, the alt-right, facism, nuclear weapons ... let's go home."

"In closing, I'd just like to say you've been a great crowd, folks. Don't forget to tip your waitress, and I hope this final number breaks your heart the way show business broke mine."

'I hate my life.

'Dreams of how it might have been.'

"Half-full. Those were the days."

'I still love those classic solos from the 70s - but who has the time?'

"Woke up this mornin', Found myself trapped in the Blues genre..."

DOUR and TROUBADOUR

"I asked Bill to accompany this presentation with something in a haunting minor key."

Things one would rather have left unsaid - 'I will!'

Books: Success stories & Sob stories.

"Perhaps a dirge would lift your spirits?"

Though he wrote the world's most listened-to melody, few people know of Tony Bombosa, the genius behind AOL Instant Messenger's four-note jingle.

Godot finally turns up

'I think our marriage would make a great country song.'

Bored couple.

Picasso's Blues Period

Man has storm cloud umbrella.

Edgar Allan Poe almost ruins his public persona.

"Fall makes him sad."

Death awaits the last leaf of Autumn with a rake.

Sad Songs.

"I like sad songs."

"I'm full of an unspeakable sadness and it goes a little something like this..."

Tailpiece to E Dowson's 'The Pierrot of the Minute'

There's a tear in my beer.

'Boy...usually it just gently weeps.'

Where the boulevard of broken dreams crosses the avenue of broken appliances...