Chords for Piano-playing Street Performer Brings Audience to Tears | Extraordinary People | New York Post

_ _ _ _ _ _ [Abm] _
I wheel an 800-pound piano [Eb] a little more than half a mile,
just about four [Abm] times a week. _ _ _
I play in the [C] park all year round.
[Cm] I play in the snow.
I [F] play when [Bb] it's wet out.
Everyone deserves to have [C] a positive, _ powerful, [Eb] emotional musical experience.
There's no reason to deny that to anyone. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I [Am] used to play for ballet classes.
I was always looking for a more fulfilling _ [A] artistic experience.
And while I was in the subway and walking through Manhattan,
I always saw street performers.
And [E] so I wanted [A] to try my hand at street performing myself.
[E] One of the most integral parts of [A] street performing
is having a little bit [Em] of a spectacle.
My [A] roommate and I decided that bringing [Db] a real piano around
would probably be the most [Gbm] unique thing to do.
[Dbm] _ _
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Db] The way I push the piano is [A] a strategy all in [E] itself.
I have to [A] use a lot of brute force,
but there's also a certain amount [D] of leverage involved.
[A] I almost always have to keep my eye between the streets
and what I'm going [D] towards.
[A] Every now and again, there walks up that guy who says,
Boy, I bet you wish that you played the flute.
Hey, do you need some help?
No, I only got one more block, so [Gb] it's all good.
You can come there and [Gbm] listen to the music.
I _ _ _ _ try my best to hear and see _
all of the emotions of the people around me.
[A] I'm thinking about the emotions in the piece that I'm playing,
_ and I'm hearing them and feeling them myself,
and I'm also looking at the people
and thinking about _ how [Ab] it's meaningful to [Dbm] them.
_ [B] _ _ _ _ _ [Gb] _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ [Db] _ _ _
[Gbm] Before you guys leave, there's something very special
that I [Dbm] do for [Gbm] people.
Well, _ I [E] had a piano technician,
and he would always tune the piano,
and then as soon as he was done tuning,
he would lay underneath the piano while I played
to make [Dbm] sure it sounded just right,
[Bm] and he would always exclaim how amazing it was,
and [D] I didn't think [A] much of it.
And then [D] one of the [G] fellows who often hangs out in the park
[Cm] was kind of having an emotional day,
and he loves the piece called Clair de Lune,
and he asked if I would play it.
[Ab] Some friends of mine and I, we helped him get under there,
and [F] I played it for him, and when we brought [G] him up,
he had streaks [Cm] of tears down his eyes,
and it was clearly like [C] a very, very emotional experience for him.
[Em] And it made me think, you know,
this is [C] something that I should provide for everybody.
[E] I don't know, the music [Em] comes from, _ _ _ [C] it goes through me.
It's like [A] you're feeling the energy _ [C] of this place.
[F] Just to be encompassed with [C] all the music,
and you [G] feel it, the vibrations, it's so loud,
you feel the vibrations, [C] you're not even thinking about anything.
It was like_ _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [B] _ _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
_ [Ebm] _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ [Ab]
There's a lot of [B] confusion out there,
and [Ab] there's a lot of negativity,
[B] _ and music is one of the ways that [Ab]
we go out
[B] into the maelstrom [Gb] of all this craziness,
and we lift everybody up.
So my hope and [Ebm] dream is that I can just get [Gb] better at this. _ _ _
My life's work, my passion,
is ultimately to [E] provide _ amazing musical experiences
to as many people as I can before I die.
_ [N] _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ All right, [Ab] here we go, here we go, here we go. _ _ _ _ _ _