Harvey and the Duchess

Harvey and the Duchess

00:00 / 05:35

Harvey hits the snooze alarm and rolls out of bed

Slips into another day’s routine

And just like any other day he walks to the shop

Says hello to the Duchess

Drinks coffee with cream

He’s a little bit late

And the Duchess has something to say

Harvey just smiles and he fixes her clock

It’s a game that they play

They’ll be playing all day

At a game that two people can win

Harvey’s a winner

He’ll get up and do it again

You don’t know the Duchess until she lights up a smile

Then it’s like you’re seen her face before

And lots of folks will miss her ‘cuz she keeps to herself

That’s OK by the Duchess

She needs to be sure about the people

‘Cuz there’s so many people

And just enough time for a few

Thank God for Harvey

He’s there when she needs him

He’ll always come through

The soul fits the shoe

And the shoe is a pleasure to wear

Smile for the Duchess

Harvey and the Duchess have got a thing going on

Something to remember

And much like any other thing

There’s ups and there’s downs

Habits and changes

Nights on the town

Making memories

As rich as their fortunes will allow

Harvey and the Duchess are making them the best they know how

Harvey and the Duchess are living the good life

Right now

When I was in my early 20s and learning to write songs, I wanted to take a shot at writing a third person love song. Surely, I'd written love songs, but when they were about a real relationship with a real person it felt like I was betraying a confidence if I performed the song in public.

So the problem was, without the real me and she as subject, who to write about?

At about that same time, in the spring of 1981, I got a job cleaning the Sun Bakery in Ann Arbor. Five days a week I'd go in at nine in the morning and wade into the most amazing floury messes you can possibly imagine.

It was great.

There were two machines I had to clean almost every day. One was an electric powered dough roller. When out of use, the dough conveyer belts on either side of its roller folded up in such a way that it resembled a seven foot tall white rabbit.

Thus Harvey.

Across a very narrow aisle from Harvey was a "dough-press", manufactured by the Dutchess Bakers Machinery Company. The bakers used this machine to take a plate of dough and cut it into a grid of discreet pieces and roll them into dinner rolls.

Harvey and the Duchess

When I was in my early 20s and learning to write songs, I wanted to take a shot at writing a third person love song. Surely, I'd written love songs, but when they were about a real relationship with a real person it felt like I was betraying a confidence if I performed the song in public.

So the problem was, without the real me and she as subject, who to write about?

At about that same time, in the spring of 1981, I got a job cleaning the Sun Bakery in Ann Arbor. Five days a week I'd go in at nine in the morning and wade into the most amazing floury messes you can possibly imagine.

It was great.

There were two machines I had to clean almost every day. One was an electric powered dough roller. When out of use, the dough conveyer belts on either side of its roller folded up in such a way that it resembled a seven foot tall white rabbit.

Thus Harvey.

Across a very narrow aisle from Harvey was a "dough-press", manufactured by the Dutchess Bakers Machinery Company. The bakers used this machine to take a plate of dough and cut it into a grid of discreet pieces and roll them into dinner rolls.

This was the Dutchess.

I cleaned Harvey. I cleaned the Dutchess. Daily I walked past Harvey and the Dutchess a hundred times in the course of fulfilling my duties.

Sometimes I'd visit the bakers at night and see Harvey and the Dutchess in action.

Eventually it clicked. There they were, staring me in the face. Harvey and the Dutchess.

Write a song about Harvey and the Dutchess.

Here's that song.

Harvey and the Duchess

When I was in my early 20s and learning to write songs, I wanted to take a shot at writing a third person love song. Surely, I'd written love songs, but when they were about a real relationship with a real person it felt like I was betraying a confidence if I performed the song in public.

​

So the problem was, without the real me and she as subject, who to write about?

​

At about that same time, in the spring of 1981, I got a job cleaning the Sun Bakery in Ann Arbor. Five days a week I'd go in at nine in the morning and wade into the most amazing floury messes you can possibly imagine.

It was great.

​

There were two machines I had to clean almost every day. One was an electric powered dough roller. When out of use, the dough conveyer belts on either side of its roller folded up in such a way that it resembled a seven foot tall white rabbit.

Thus Harvey.

​

Across a very narrow aisle from Harvey was a "dough-press", manufactured by the Dutchess Bakers Machinery Company. The bakers used this machine to take a plate of dough and cut it into a grid of discreet pieces and roll them into dinner rolls.

​

This was the Dutchess.

​

I cleaned Harvey. I cleaned the Dutchess. Daily I walked past Harvey and the Dutchess a hundred times in the course of fulfilling my duties.

​

Sometimes I'd visit the bakers at night and see Harvey and the Dutchess in action.

​

Eventually it clicked. There they were, staring me in the face. Harvey and the Dutchess.

Write a song about Harvey and the Dutchess.

​

Here's that song.

​

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