full lyrics:

they said you have

azul guitar

you do not play things

as they are

I replied things

just as they are

are changed upon

azul guitar


and they said then

perform you must

a tune not beyond

but on par

a tune upon

azul guitar

of things exactly

as they are


I cannot bring

the world quite round

although I patch it

as I can

I sing a hero's glory won

worthy of bronze

yet not a man


if serenade

ideal of man

is to miss details

as they are

say that it is

the serenade

of one who strums

azul guitar


so that's life then?

things as they are?

it plucks and picks

rhythm bizarre

a billion people

on one string

and all their manner

in the thing


and all their manner

right and wrong

and all their manner

weak and strong

and that's life then

things as they are

vibrations on

azul guitar


this generation's denouement

a dream, the only dream I knew

a lie disguised as lullaby

a lemming charge framed as a coup


forgotten now, that dream, except

the moments when I rise to play

like rebel ray from aflame star

on instrument azul guitar


 borrowing from & inspired by the poem "The Blue Guitar", by Wallace Stevens

which borrowed from & was inspired by the painting "The Old Guitarist",

by Pablo Picasso