across the square

People often ask if I miss Wisconsin. I usually say no—but I sure miss the wonderful friends I have there. And when I think about those friendships, so many lead back to one place: Genna’s Lounge, a small, family-owned bar on the corner of Madison’s Capitol Square.

I started going to Genna’s in 1987, when it was still on University Avenue because musicians gathered there. After it moved to the Square in 1993, it became our default gathering place. We simply called it “the bar.” Everyone knew which one we meant.

It’s hard to believe 40 years have passed. Friends have come and gone. Some are facing the challenges of age and illness. Some are no longer with us. Others I could probably still find there on a Farmers’ Market Saturday or a random Friday night.

Genna’s was, and always will be, my “Cheers.” My dear friend Jay Moran and so many others have gathered there with me hundreds of times. We whiled away the hours, told stories, laughed, wrote lyrics and just shared our lives.

This song is my love letter to Genna’s and to the friends who made it feel like home. If I’ve missed you in the list, please forgive me. My memory isn’t what it used to be, but you’re part of this story, too.

To all my Genna’s friends: I miss you. This one’s for you.

Always someone I knew
Even when I came alone
Guitar player telling stories
A lawyer holding court

Someone passing through
Sayin’ they’d go far
Hopes shone through the window
Of that little downtown bar

They bought it from her uncle
Went all in with a prayer
Borrowed hard against tomorrow
Knowing folks would gather there

We were young enough to believe
Everything we loved would last
Funny how you never see the good
Till you’re looking back

The old place is still there
Looking out across the square
Capitol lights coming through
But not the crowd we knew
Some moved on, some couldn’t stay
Some names belong to the past

I close my eyes
Everyone’s there
Many years younger
In that little bar on the square

Washed out a divorce there
One long evening at a time
Friends who knew not to ask
If I thought I’d be just fine
And years later someone else
I had to learn to lose

Funny how the same old barstool
Could hold heartbreak and good news

We laughed inside that room
Till there were smiles to our ears
At jokes that weren’t that funny
Unless you’d known us all for years
Nights I thought would never end
Songs we’d never quite get right
And somebody always saying,
“Just one more before goodnight”

The old place is still there
Looking out across the square
Streetlights coming through
But not the crowd we knew
Some moved on, some couldn’t stay
Some names belong to the past

I close my eyes
Everyone’s there
Many years younger
In that little bar on the square

One went on to bright lights
One got known another way
One became a friend for thirty years
And some just slipped away
One had to leave the drinking
So he left the old place too
And there are strangers now
Where I still see the friends I knew

Then I became the one who left
Put a thousand miles between
That window and the Capitol
And the life we used to lead
And I know I could go back
Push that same old door again
But you can’t walk into a memory
And expect to find your friends

There are places that you leave behind
And places that don’t ever leave
And sometimes when you think of them
The old ache comes right through
Maybe that’s the price of having
Somewhere you belong
You carry all the laughter
And you carry what is gone

That old place is still there
Looking out across the square
Neon lights coming through
But not the crowd I knew
Some moved on, some couldn’t stay
Some names belong to the past

And I close my eyes
Everyone’s there
Forty years younger
Just raising a glass
Thinking we had forever
In that little bar
On the square

The Capitol still shines there
Nothing’s rearranged
That’s the part that hurts sometimes
How much of us have changed