[Intro | Waltz-time acoustic, pedal steel, brushes] [Verse 1 | Male — 1A warm low croon] I was eighteen in Vienna when the soldiers filled the square And the waltzes in the coffeehouse went sour in the air I wrote a Carolina lady, though I wasn't any kin And a town I'd never heard of wrote me back and let me in I swept the floors at the shirt plant with a broom too big for me And I wrote to you each Sunday 'cross a war and 'cross the sea [Verse 2 | Female — young alt-pop voice, sweet and wry] It took me five times leaving, and my mother held my hand Then you met us at the station with a little something planned And you drove us round the courthouse once, and once, and once again So the little town looked bigger — oh, I knew it even then [Spoken | Male] You noticed? [Spoken | Female] I noticed everything. [Chorus | Duet, harmonies] Three times around the square, three times around the square Just to make a small town big enough to hold us there We got married at the diner with the only cool air (and the cool air broke — we didn't care) Three times around the square [Verse 3 | Male] Then they made me mayor of the place that let a stranger stay So I narrowed down the Main Street, gave the sidewalks right of way I planted trees in rows so we could walk there side by side Willow oaks and maples where the traffic used to ride [Chorus | Duet] Three times around the square, three times around the square Just to make a small town big enough to hold us there We got married at the diner with the only cool air Three times around the square [Bridge | Female alone, soft then raw belt, piano and steel] Sixty-eight years of Sunday mornings dancing in the den Then you went on ahead of me, the way you did back then So I circle round the courthouse once, and once, and once again 'Cause the town got small without you — so I make it big again (make it big again) [Final Chorus | Duet, his voice faint like memory, hers clear] Three times around the square, three times around the square All the leaves are coming down like letters through the air And I read them every autumn from the trees you planted there Three times around the square [Outro | Waltz fades, single pedal steel swell]
