912 Greens (1968)

Lyrics

[Monologue] Around about 1953 I went down to New Orleans Perhaps I should say many years ago It was in the summer time I went down there with Frank and Guy We sang and bust our way through the Smoky Mountains And on down to New Orleans And while we were down there, we had a name of a fella to look up Billy Faier was a five-string banjo picker Lived in a house called 912 Toulouse Street And the way we found him, well that was a whole 'nother song Let's just say we found Billy Faier And he took us over there to 912 Toulouse Street The only entrance I knew to this place Was over a back fence up an alley And over a fence, by some garbage cans, look out for that rusty nail Now you're up, now you're over And there was a cement over patio With a pave of concrete, with a banana tree in the middle it Well, I never did see no banana hanging on it As they said it was a banana tree And a wooden staircase leading up to a wooden balcony That connected all the various different musicians And different various pads And a grey cat with three legs named Grey That used to lope along and fall down 'Cause Grey he had a stroke, couldn't run too good on them three legs no how It was very hot there and humid in August What with the wind coming off the Mrs Miller River by the Jax Brewery And around towards sundown, the weather broke and the To a tropical rainstorm and the rain came And there was this girl there who had once been an ex-ballet dancer And she took all her clothes off and danced around in the rain Around the banana tree, around and around And I followed suit Until the rain stopped So naturally everybody ran indoors And we sat around drinking Billy Faier's wine And getting acquainted till it was almost sun-up And as day started breaking, everybody start splitting Over that back alley fence Which was the only entrance I ever knew to that place And I split too Stayed around three weeks in New Orleans Never did see the light of day And I never have been back Did you ever, stand and shiver Just because you were, looking at a river