My mother used to say she couldn’t sing but I knew better.  Some people say if you can talk you can sing, and some people sing because they have to.

 

 

you ever hear about Blind Lemon Jefferson?
he had quite a style
people down in Texas in those days 
they come come for miles
to listen to the big man play
and they’d say

ain’t that somethin’

you ever hear Billie Holliday
when she was singin’ her song
and everything was just right
right where it belonged
gardenias in her midnight hair
she could take you anywhere

ain’t that somethin’

because if that ain’t somethin’
then somethin’ ain’t nothin’ at all

Lemon went to Chicago
to try to make his name
froze out the sidewalk
when the winter came
and Billie died broke
it all went up in smoke

ain’t that somethin’

you could spend your whole life
livin’ in the sound
one snap of the fingers
and it all comes down
funny thing is after you’re gone
everybody’s singin’ your song

ain’t that somethin’

because if that ain’t somethin’
then somethin’ ain’t nothin’ at all

where can we go dancin’
where the music plays slow
everybody’s in a hurry
like they got some place to go
and maybe they do, how would I know
but me, I’m just gonna let it go

because sometimes when i hear you singing
when you don’t think i do
it sounds so beautiful
i don’t know how to tell you
so i just let it pass
like a vision on a pain of glass

ain’t that somethin’

because if that ain’t somethin’
then somethin’ ain’t nothin’ at all

 

 

released on The Time Is Now

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