"Half-Moon Cafe" is an Emily Saliers song, written during her
sophomore year at Tulane (the same year she wrote "Play It Again,
Sam") The sole performance I have is from Live at WREK, on 27
February 1989
Half-Moon Cafe
At the Half-Moon Cafe, we drink to our lives
Like pseudo-believers in love
We've been through our holes-in-the-walls and the dives
Where you drink to recall what you once had a vision of
And we talk of our lives in a prison
Though we both know it's better to be
Safe within our indecision
Than taking the risk to be free
And you were to be a great poet
And I'd find my fame in song
But we somehow saw failure more closely
Than fame all along
And now you manage a hamburger stand
And I haven't found steady work yet
And we meet here to talk and pretend
That we know no regret
But how much is chance
How much would you decide
How much is murder of our dreams
How much is suicide?
So you ask of my latest Top 40
And I ask of your latest great fiction
As I step outside I see that the moon is full
I have to laugh at the contradiction
Well, at least we can laugh at our dreams
Though it's really much more bitter than sweet
Sometimes through all of this fragmentation
I imagine what it feels to be complete
But how much is chance
How much would you decide
How much is murder of our dreams
How much is suicide?