Something Just Broke

I was out in the yard

Taking down the bed sheets

When my neighbor yelled across

The President's been shot

I remember where I was

Just exactly where I was

In the yard out back

The President's been shot

I was getting me a shoeshine

Folding sheets

When I heard-

We were waiting for a carriage

Newsboys

Suddenly there's shouting in the streets

Lizzie's sheets

The President's been shot

I'll remember it forever-

And I thought-

Where I was, what I was doing

Something just broke

The President's been shot

My God!

I was up near the ridge

Plowing

We were working at the plant

I was halfway through correcting the exams

When my wife

It was Mike

She comes tearing 'cross the field

Mike, the foreman

In runs Billy

I mean, he was crying

He was crying

She was crying

I'll remember it forever

And I though

The President's been shot

You know what?

As a president he isn't worth a lot

I kept thinking

He's the kind that gets elected then forgot

Mr. Garfield

Mr. Lincoln

He's a hack

Bill McKinley

He's a giant

He's a joke

Still, something just broke

The President is rallying

The President is sinking

The President is dead

Something just broke

I was down at the Exchange

Something just made a little dent

I'd been shopping

Something just broke (I'd been sick)

(All I know it was a Friday)

Only for a moment

(I remember it exactly)

Something got bent

I'm taking the order

Something just left a little mark (I was getting dressed)

(Two potato soups)

Something just went a little dark (ah ah)

Something just went (and I wondered)

(I was scared of what would follow)

Something to be mended

(Made me wonder who we are)

Something we'll have to weather

(It was seeing all those torches)

Bringing us all together (he was me, he was us)

If only for a moment

(I'll remember it forever)

Nothing has really ended (where I was)

(What I was doing)

Something just been suspended (like a flash)

'Cause something just broke (and I thought)

(And I thought to myself)

Something just woke

And I thought

I kept thinking

Something just spoke

Something I wish I hadn't heard

Something bewildering occurred

Fix it up fast, please

'Til it's just smoke

'Til it's only "something just passed"

Nothing that will last (where I was, what I was doing)

Nothing but the moment

Just an awful moment

But something just-