Tales Tall as Cliffs

I was walking home from work and saw an old man with a guitar. He was sitting outside the abandoned YMCA, and his face was weathered and crusty, like three-day old mandarin orange peels.
I sat down beside him and asked him to play me a song. As he began to strum, I recognized the chords, and told him so.
"That's a lie!," he said... "I wrote this just this morning."
I squinted, and asked him to repeat himself.
"Just this morning, at dawn, as the sun rose over the North Saskatchewan," but his voice was full of hesitation, "Some of the chords didn't even exist - I had to invent them." He was playing a D.
I wanted to tell him that the song was by Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, but I couldn't do it. Instead I decided to clap and sing along - I was wearing gloves, so it was a deep, thudded clap. He didn't ask how I knew the lyrics.
A crowd gathered as he gained volume and confidence. They joined in, slapping briefcases, stomping feet, and shuffling shoes.
When he finished, the crowd applauded then slowly made their way back into the dead of the Edmonton winter. I looked at him and asked what the song was about.
"Everything, man. It's about coalition governments, Somali pirates, Will Smith, Tom Cruise, and Miley Cyrus. It's about the medals I got in Korea..."
"Wait... The Olympics? or the war?"
"The Olympics, man... do I look like a veteran? Darnit, no! I was a pole vaulter." He paused..."Where was I?"
"...medals in Korea"
"Oh, yes. That's right. It's about those medals, and the apartheid, and the 1994 baseball strike. But mostly, it's a love song I wrote for Lauren Conrad."
Then I asked him why he lied to me. He slung his guitar over his shoulder and headed to the Greyhound station.

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - As Tall as Cliffs
(From: Not Animal)