A JHU Mental Notes version of Billy Joel's classic doo-wop hit, The Longest Time. It appears as track #9 on their debut album, verticality. It is consistently a crowd pleaser, because it brings together all of the things the Mental Notes are famous for:


Whoa-oa-oa, I just shot a mime... (x2)

Saw him in the park the other day,
he just smiled and motioned "A-OK!"
He was so silent;
he made me grow so violent!
I can't believe it, I just shot (ricochet)
a mime.

What's this voice I'm hearing in my head,
telling me that mimes should all be dead?
Shouldn't have listened,
but then his grease paint glistened,
and I just lost it--I just shot (9mm)
a mime.

Just because I shoot one every week,
doesn't mean that I'm some kind of freak;
Mimes, I don't like, oh,
does that make me a psycho?
I couldn't help it, I just shot (pump shotgun)
a mime!

Now I knew that I had to run:
I had no cash--but I had a gun!
Searched his wallet, I was in luck:
he carried fifty bucks
and it was more than I'd hoped for...

Cops drove up--the mimes all turned me in
I got nowhere walking 'gainst the wind.
That's how they found me,
when they put the cuffs around me.
They seemed unhappy... I just shot (automatic rifle)
a mime.

Had my trial in court yesterday.
Was it so wrong? I couldn't say.
The jury wasn't swayed by my tears:
they gave me fifteen years
and it was more than I'd hoped for...


Now I languish in a prison cell.
All the inmates know me very well.
Our prison guard Rich
has claimed me as his new bitch!
I guess I earned it, 'cause I shot (Ewwwww)
a mime.

Whoa-oa-oa-oa, I just shot a mime. (x4)

Lyrics © 1997 The JHU Mental Notes, Joshua Berg, Joshua Greenberg, J.R. Parsons, and used with permission.