Bake Sale - David Roth

[00:02.280]Bake Sale -David Roth
[00:12.220]Louis Lichtman had a bakery at 86th and Amsterdam
[00:18.380]You'd smell the rising bread at least a couple blocks away
[00:23.420]For forty years a wedding cake of one kind or another
[00:28.940]Would occupy the Lichtman's Bakery window every day
[00:36.30]Then the world turned from pastry and from challah and from cookies
[00:41.330]From the independent merchant to the supermarket mall
[00:46.560]And the rents were rising faster than the loaves that they were earned on
[00:51.820]So the "Going Out of Business"sign appeared on Lichtman's wall
[00:59.200]The lights are out at Lichtman's now
[01:05.50]The building's cold and empty with a cake stand in the window
[01:10.990]Your credit's fine no money down
[01:16.510]And the Upper West Side doesn't smell as sweetly as it used to
[01:21.450]Back when Lichtman's Bakery graced our little town
[01:38.700]The final day of business came and with it Lichtman's regulars
[01:43.500]Paying their respects and taking in the sad details
[01:48.850]Mrs Kaplan bought a dozen cakes another thirty strudels
[01:54.100]As the auctioneer prepared to start the sale
[01:59.580]Some sixty other bakers bid on ovens and on boxes
[02:04.730]There were mixers there was shortening there were bowls and there were pans
[02:10.690]And the years were sifting through the racks at Louis Lichtman's bakery
[02:15.950]Like the flour and the sugar through his hands
[02:21.930]The lights are out at Lichtman's now
[02:27.880]The building's cold and empty with a cake stand in the window
[02:34.180]The Daily Special sign fell down
[02:39.820]And the Upper West Side doesn't smell as sweetly as it used to
[02:44.890]Back when Lichtman's Bakery graced our little town
[03:19.440]The last of all the lots was sold the frosting tubes and freezer
[03:24.490]Mr Lichtman clutched his rolling pin and went to stand outside
[03:30.540]He didn't want to watch the auctioneer conclude his business
[03:35.470]And he didn't want his friends to see him cry
[03:40.870]A note left hanging on the wall
[03:46.900]It said that Mrs Rosenthal still owed him 7dollars
[03:53.650]That was a long long time ago
[03:58.800]And the ceiling fan once spinning round for one last time was slowing down
[04:04.350]As forty years came turning to a close
[04:09.730]The lights are out at Lichtman's now
[04:15.490]The building's cold and empty Mr Lichtman moved to Jersey
[04:21.960]The neighborhood has changed around
[04:27.620]The Upper West Side doesn't smell as sweetly as it used to
[04:32.620]Back when Lichtman's Bakery graced our little town