"Closing the Deal"

For years, I had a cassette that Wally sent me in the mid-1980s. It was filled with parts, idea, and song fragments, mostly recorded at his mom’s house on an old out-of-tune piano. (When I first head Durutti Column’s song, “Piece for an Out of Tune Grand Piano,” I thought of wally.) Whenever I needed a creativity boost, I would turn to that tape and find something to work on. “Scarlet,” “Later…In The Morning,” “From My Point of View,” “Half as Bad,” “The Rest of My Life,” and many others were all born from seeds on that tape. As was “Closing the Deal.” I recorded five of these long-distance collaborations on my cassette, “Wally and Brian,” and a few more trickled out in coming years. I had planned to record many more, and also write many more, but that’s about the time A Heart Calls Quietly intervened. I’ve left a lot of projects unfinished over the years. My bad.

Closing the Deal

© 1989 Wally Koekebakker and Brian Hutzell

It took me down

And I don’t know which way to go

It took me down

When I thought I was in control

Closing the deal is the hardest part

Closing the deal--another door slammed on my heart

Thought I was prepared

For the situation

But I got scared

In negotiations

Closing the deal, I lost my shirt

Closing the deal, only one of us got hurt

Closing the deal, you made out like a bandit

Closing the deal, is this how you planned it?

Now I look at you with new respect

Because you kept your cool

And I admire the way you played the jilted maid in the courtroom

Very effective

The judge was so receptive

He put me down

And I don’t know which was is up

You took me down

To your level

Now I’m gonna get rough

Closing the deal, it isn’t over till it’s over

Closing the deal, the final foreclosure

Closing the deal, you got what you wanted

Closing the deal, now you’re living as one of the hunted