To Who It May Concern:

🎵 “If It’s 86’d, Try 85” 🎵

Verse 1
Walked into a diner ‘bout a quarter to nine
Sat on a stool, said “coffee, black, I’ll be fine”
Menu looked tired, like it gave up the fight
Waitress said “hon, it’s been a long, long night”

I said “I’ll take pie, apple if you got”
She tapped her pencil, said “we absolutely do not”
“Kitchen says 86, that pie has flown”
I smiled real easy, said “you ain’t alone…”

Chorus
🎵
If it’s 86’d… try 85
There’s gotta be a way to keep that dream alive
Don’t tell me ‘no,’ just bend the line
Somewhere between gone and fine
If it’s 86’d… try 85
🎵

Verse 2
Cook in the back started hollerin’ loud
“Tell that guy we’re fresh out, don’t draw a crowd!”
I waved real friendly, said “hey, my friend—
What you don’t got, you might still pretend”

She said “we’re outta eggs, and we’re outta toast”
“Outta bacon too, and that hurts the most”
I said “that’s alright, don’t make a fuss—
Just bring me what comes right before what was”

Chorus
🎵
If it’s 86’d… try 85
Slide it down the scale, keep hope alive
Maybe it’s close, maybe it’s shy
Maybe it’s just passin’ by
If it’s 86’d… try 85
🎵

Bridge
Now the whole place stopped, just watchin’ me grin
Like I knew some secret they couldn’t get in
Old man coughing said “boy, that’s wild”
I winked at him like a stubborn child

“See, numbers are tricky, they dance and they dive
You lose one thing, another survives
You say it’s gone, I say not quite—
Might be hidin’ just outta sight”

Verse 3
Waitress came back with a curious plate
Said “this ain’t on the menu, don’t ask me to state”
Something like pie, but it wasn’t exact
I said “now we’re talkin’, that’s a step intact”

Cook peeked out, shook his head slow
Muttered “that ain’t right… but there it goes…”
Whole diner laughing, coffee poured free
Like maybe they saw what I could see

Final Chorus
🎵
If it’s 86’d… try 85
There’s a million ways to improvise
Life ain’t fixed, it twists and jives
Somewhere in between it thrives
If it’s 86’d… try 85
🎵

Outro
So if they say “sorry, we’re all out today”
Don’t just nod and walk away
Lean in close, give ‘em a grin—
“Got anything just before then?” 🎵

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Here’s the Bardo bus now!

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