Happy Winter 2019!  Today it has been 41 years since Central Avenue and the beginning.

Nostrovia.

Still in North Carolina.  In love with carolina blue skies, and the rest is history.

 The Fable of the Three Sinners, By Tom Cole
The Johns Hopkins Alumni Magazine, circa 1978-79.

This magazine arrived just when I had moved into my new apartment on Central Avenue in New Haven.  Sometime I will type in the entire text of Tom Cole's great fable about the three sinners, but for now I will only present the last few paragraphs of his conclusion:

    "This is what happened to the three:  the friar, set free to wander the forests minus his hands, was attacked by a large bear and killed.  He put up no resistance, for he saw it was God's judgement upon him.  
    "The Huntsman vowed vengeance for every stroke of the cruel whip that laid open his back.  He apprenticed himself to an assassin and grew very skilled in the art of murder, until one day he sought the King in his bedchamber to requite the old grievance.  The huntsman, however, was surprised and killed by one of the Royal Guard.
    "The minstrel whiled away the time needed for his eyes to heal by playing.  He became quite accomplished, and spent the greater part of every day thereafter in practice, for other worldly pleasures were denied him.  He serenaded the greatest peers of several realms, and when he died ballads were written of him.

    "MORAL:  Do not go backwards, that is resentment;  do not stand still, that is passive;  go forward, and love your fate."



Thank you, Tom Cole, for your saving words.  

Today's song....


"As Long As I Have A Song" Beth Hart.

Walk into the bar
And shake off my coat
Pull up a chair
And light up a smoke

Where did all those summers go?
Guess I’ll never know
So barkeep let’s give it a go

Pour me a dream
And play me a tune
And I’ll get along
Just as long
As I have a song

Sit by the church
And hear children sing
I like to pretend they’re
Singing for me

Memories of melodies
And words that made me cry
They have all abandoned me
Sit back and watch me die

Pour me a dream
And play me a tune
And I’ll get along
Just as long
As I have a song

The river is wide
And the ocean’s so deep
The harder I try
The faster I sink into the rich of the dark
The cheapest of tricks
I’ve lost the fire
Still I’m sharpening my wick
But it’s just smoke
And that’s all

So pour me a tune
As blue as the moon
And I’ll get along
Just as long
As I have a song
I’ll hum along
And that is how I’ll
Get along

Link to youtube video of "As Long As I Have A Song" 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvAPIPIpusk

Happy New Year 2020?  Peace and Love, Oldbigfoot. 

Melissa, by The Allman Brothers Band....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR5PX-4pcno

"Melissa", Sung by Duane Allman and Jackson Browne...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0GiRGl2dIU


(aka "nostrovia!")

Crossroads, seem to come and go, yeah
The gypsy flies from coast to coast
Knowing many, loving none
Bearing sorrow, having fun
But, back home he'll always run
To sweet Melissa
Mmm, hmm

Freight train, each car looks the same, all the same
And no one knows the gypsy's name
And no one hears his lonely sighs
There are no blankets where he lies
Lord, in his deepest dreams the gypsy flies
With sweet Melissa
Mm, hmm

Again, the mornin's come
Again, he's on the run
A sunbeam's shinin' through his hair
Fear not to have a care
Well, pick up your gear and gypsy roll on
Roll on

Crossroads, will you ever let him go?
Lord, Lord
Or will you hide the dead man's ghost?
Or will he lie, beneath the clay?
Or will his spirit float away?
But, I know that he won't stay
Without Melissa
Yes, I know that he won't stay, yeah
Without Melissa
Lord, Lord, it's all the sameWriter/s: STEPHEN ALAIMO, GREGG ALLMAN
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc., Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

So obvious now...

"You Were Never Mine"....Janiva Mangess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tYH7tLMbts

You Were Never Mine Lyrics

saw someone again today
Who remembered me and you
They asked all the same old questions
I gave the same excuse
They said what a shame, what a shame
To lose a love so fine
But I never lost you, I never really lost you
I never lost you, you were never mine
I kept on believing
What I wanted to believe
The unspoken promises
That you could never keep
But it's a sin, oh it's a sin
To tell yourself a lie
I never lost you, I never lost you
I never lost you, you were never mineDid you give me all you gave me
Just because I needed you
But when I needed all your love completely
Was it more than you could do

Sometimes deep in the night
When I hold you in my dreams
I get lost in your loving touch, baby
I can't believe how real it seems
And I know, yes I know
I'll have you 'till the end of time
'Cause I never lost you, I never lost you
I never lost you 'cause you were never mine
I never lost you, I never really lost you
How could I lose you, you were never mine

"Nightengale" by Carole King....Nostrovia...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsvrbW5w1sg

"Nightingale"

Like some night bird, homeward wingin'
He seeks the sheltered nest
Like the sailor's lost horizon
He needs some place to rest
The songs that he's been singin'
No longer make much sense
And those strangers' cold perceptions
They've killed his confidence

Nightingale
She sails away upon a sea of song
Nightingale
She serenades his lonely, lonely life along
When his tired voice is broken
His golden hope is gone
She makes a lost soul's simple longing
Somehow not so wrong
Nightingale
Nightingale

He was strong, but he was taken
By the thought of his success
Those spotlight shadows, how they lured him
And took him like all the rest
But that old dream don't look good now
No, it don't seem quite the same
He needs to hear a tender word
Won't you sing him home again

Nightingale
She sails away upon a sea of song
Nightingale
She serenades his lonely, lonely life along
When his strength is slowly goin'
His pride is all but gone
She makes a foolish dreamer listen
To one last song
Nightingale
Nightingale

Getting warm in North Carolina.  No snow.

Furnace running though now.

Of course, to The One Who Knows...:

You Never Even Call Me By My Name(AKA The Perfect Country & Western Song)
©Steve Goodman and [although he won't admit it] John Prine)

(as sung by Steve Goodman in London, Aug 8, 1976)

[spoken] This is a song I wrote with John Prine 4 years ago (1972) and we tried to put into one song, everything that had ever been in any of the country and western songs we had ever heard. Tried to put it all into one song. Serves us right. This is what came out:
Well it was all I could do to keep from cryin'
Some times it seems so useless to remain
You're the one who always tried to change me
And that is why I will always stay the same
Chorus:
But I'll hang around as long as you will let me
I never minded standing in the rain
You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'
But you never even call me by my name
No, you don't have to call me Freddy Fender
You don't have to call me Charlie Pride
You don't have to call me Merle Haggard anymore
Even though you know you're on my fighting side
Chorus- this verse only:
And I'm gonna hang around as long as you will let me
I never minded standing in the rain (when nights are cold and lonely)
You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'
But you never even call me by name.
[musical by mouth improv done in a Merle Haggard-like tone -no words]
[spoken] I've seen my name, a few times in the phone book[spoken] And on the neon sign above the bar I used to own[spoken] And there's only one thing I'm really sure of was that sucker
You're gonna hear it when my savior calls me home
[spoken] That's a lot to get into one song. We left out all the good stuff. Dallas, dope, divorce, dead dogs, trains prison Christmas, mothers, farms, and trucks. Mothers, prison, trucks, trains, farms, Christmas, and dead dogs are essential, you can't have a good country song without them things. And with all due respect this song needs mothers, prison, trucks, trains, farms, Christmas and dead dogs and is that it? Whatever it is - it's also 4 minutes long already (they're going 'when's he gonna end, when's he gonna end in the booth back there') So I'll just tack this verse on the end here-
Ever since the dog died and mama went to prison
Ain't nothin' round this old farm that's been the same
[Spoken] You know when mom broke out last Christmas
She drove the getaway laundry truck into a train
Chorus:
But I'll hang around as long as you will let me
I never minded standing in the rain
You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'
But you never even call me by my name

The David Allan Coe version:

It was all that I could do to keep from cryin'
Sometimes it seems so useless to remain
You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'
You never even call me by my name.
You don't have to call me Waylon Jennings
And you don't have to call me Charlie Pride.
You don't have to call me Merle Haggard, anymore.
Even though your on my fightin' side.
Chorus: 
And I'll hang around as long as you will let me
And I never minded standin' in the rain.
You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'
You never even call me by my name.
I've heard my name a few times in your phone book
I've seen it on signs where I've laid
But the only time I know, I'll hear David Allan Coe
Is when Jesus has his final judgment day.
Chorus:
Well, I was drunk the day my Mom got outta prison.
And I went to pick her up in the rain.
But, before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a damned old train.
Chorus:
So I'll hang around as long as you will let me
And I never minded standin' in the rain.
No, You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'
You never even call me, I wonder why you don't call me
Why don't you ever call me by my name.

The David Allan Coe version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAOVRkSCWmg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Allan_Coe

The beginning.....Loretta Lynn and Willie...:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfZxnILzN4c

Sah gah poh.  Nostrovia.