Blue-grass Blues


Moderate tempo

It must have been the hot eternal summer, ’bout vintage sixty-nine
Beautiful People ruled the world and we all got high on smiles
Coca Cola taught the world to sing
Peace and Hare Krishna was everything ……….


Me and my guitar wandered out one day
Looking for a place to settle down and play
Maybe stick around if the vibes are right
Join some other roadsters so I get some light
And warmth to play – at the end of the day …


Quicker

Well, along the East Lancs Highway comes a Phantom Grey Rolls Royce
It stops: a smoked-glass window lowers, and now calls an unseen voice:
“Boy, if you will step inside and play guitar for me
I’ll take you places, show you scenes you never thought to see”
The Voice was old, and weary, each word just dripped with ice
And maybe I shoulda known better, but I said to myself: ……… “Don’t Think Twice!”


Faster again

Well first we crossed the Pennines, and played several gigs in Hull
Then somehow we were heading North, for the Edinburgh Festiv’l
I played until my fingers bled – and then I played some more
The summer I thought should last forever                            rall
Sang its last verse ’midst the bog and heather at Glastonbury Tor ………

Then the Man in the Rolls showed me his face and his eyes were burning hot
He said: “Son I taught you all I know, so you appreciate you’ve learned a lot
So it seems to me that the one thing you need is this new guitar of gold
And all you have to do to earn it is – promise me your soul”


Pick up speed

Well at his words I jumped right up and picked up my guitar
Backed right off the passenger seat and out of that swank car
I said: “Don’t think I’m unaware of all you’ve done for me
The riffs I’ve learned and all the places I’d never have gotten to see
But now you set a price on this I’m not prepared to pay
My freedom means too much to me, and that’s all I will say!”


Faster again

And I played “Fire on the Mountain” and I played “Run, Samson Run”
And I played “Devil’s in the House of the Rising Sun”  ………..
Then I struck up “Sidh Beg, Sidh Mór” and “The Foggy Dew”
And the Car – and the Voice – and the gold guitar ……… faded from view