(Poppa was a) GUITAR MAN
Poppa drank from Muddy Waters
made three sons and then four daughters
Momma owns the things he bought her
for a song
She lived like old Blind Lemon
But his messin’ with wild women
done her wrong
I found him in New Orleans
livin’ off one of his darlings
in a jail drunk on rye whisky just because
He’d broken every law there ever was
I bailed his sorry ass out,
took him home and watched him pass out
Then he woke up, swore he’d do it all again
Friends tell me not to bother,
I’ll become just like my father
In bars on bad guitars like my old man
He’d sing:
“There’s no harm in harmony
and nothin’ fair about farewell,
one of these days I’ll mend my ways
or end up down in Hell.”
_____
(I got) one old silver dollar
in a suitcase in the parlor
Poppa’s porkpie hat and coat are down the hall
Gonna break a Pawn Shop window
Snatch his guitar quick and then go
grab a southbound bus to Nachadoches town
Bar chords earn my living, and some women are forgiving
When I sing the things the lady loves to hear
Girls with lonely faces sipping beer in lowdown places
Guitar Man’s the candy for her ear
Now I sing:
“Darlin’ I sure love you, my oh my
If you piss me off this bird is gonna fly
Boo-Yah - why oh why oh
Do I do the thing that makes my baby cry?”
______
You can live for love or glory
but the moral of this story
Is that Fate determines “what, where, when, and why”
Some of us are teachers,
plumbers, bums, or holy preachers
In the End my friend, we’re all a-gonna die
_______
Poppa was a Guitar Man
He sang the Blues but had no plan
Now I’m the acorn from his crooked oak,
I play for drunks and sing for meals
Or break a window and I steal
Just go ahead and laugh but I’m no joke
________
Some cats fall - land on their toes
(but that’s just how their story goes)
Dogs chase cars - run over on the road
I pluck, and slide, and moan and wail
I got my tiger by its tail
All a man can do is bear his load
________
Bar chords earn my living, but some women are forgiving
When I sing the things the ladies love to hear
Those girls with lonely faces
sipping beer in lowdown places
This Guitar Man is the candy for their ears
___________
I got one old silver dollar
That he left me when he died
Momma cried and called to tell me at the Bar
I told her I was sorry, she said,
“You know what you are?”
I guess I maybe should have, could have lied
I said: Poppa was a Guitar Man and so am I
I said:
“We don't choose our lives because
I am just what I am!
I’m only what my daddy was…
and
Poppa was a Guitar Man ”
_____________________
I said “Poppa was a Guitar Man”
________________________
I don't know if this is a song, a poem, or just a waste of time! :)