912 Greens (1981)

Lyrics

[Monologue] Here come this little blue car I think it was a Plymouth, all the way from L.A In New York town, and I was a-fooling around in Washington Square Park playing my guitar There was fiddles and banjos and mandolins; everybody was singin' songs One Sunday afternoon, Guy and Frank, they came in in this little car They were on their way to North Carolina, said they was goin' down there to hear some live music They invited me to come along on their trip Threw my guitar in their back seat and we took off down Highway 301 Past Richmond, down across the North Carolina line Guy's uncle lived on a farm near the ocean on the coast of North Caroline Neighbor was a fisherman, took us out on his boat—we went shrimp fishin' We caught some shrimp—mostly we got sunburned Got back just in time for dinner Boy was that good: Southern cookin' Black-eyed peas, cornbread, okra, butter beans After the dinner dishes was put away, we sat on the porch watchin' a thunder shower And Frank, he pulled out his guitar and started playing a weird song about California I asked him about it the next morning as we were heading west, headed for the Smokey Mountains Frank was in the back seat practicing the banjo Said, "Hey, Frank, what was that song you played yesterday?" And he said that it was The South Coast I said—welp, I asked him if he would play it Nope, wouldn't play it—couldn't play it And he didn't play it for about four days, till we had another thunder shower It's just that kind've a song, I guess By this time we were clear over in Nashville, Tennessee We saw the Grand Ole Opry Met Grandpa Jones, met Earl Scruggs, too Then we got back in our car and headed for the Mississippi River Headed down south into New Orleans . . . New Orleans, Louisiana We had the name of a guy down there; he was a banjo picker, Billy Fair Looked him up in a telephone directory, but he wasn't there So we parked the car and took to the streets Down Bourbon Street, up Rue Royale Ended up down at the waterfront, near the Mrs. Miller river there In a café, there was Billy, drinkin' a coffee He invited us over to his pad, which was located at 912 Toulouse Just a short walk up the street Up a back alley, over a board fence Up a garbage can lid and over the fence and down you go Landin' lightly on your feet for it's concrete in the patio There was a banana tree there—I figure it was a banana tree, it had a lot of bananas hangin' on it And a three-legged cat He sat there on the stairs like he was guardin' sumthin' I ran past the cat and I went upstairs It was a dark room; I went inside the room and there was a chair in there It was carved out of an old Mexican palm tree And Jack Kerouac had sat in that chair only a month before, down in Mexico Don't ask me how I knew that, I just knew that I sat down in the chair Composed a ballad about Jack Kerouac, sittin' in that chair Then it started rainin', so I got up and went outside Standin' on the balcony, over the patio Smellin' the air, the delicious smell of rainfall in New Orleans Everybody went inside and started pickin' the banjo, guitar Singin' songs, tellin' stories, gettin' acquainted Before you know it, the sun was comin' up Everybody split I guess they didn't wanna be caught in that hot New Orleans sun Went out over that back fence, didn't seem to be a front door on the place We all ended up in a bar down on the waterfront with John Truman tellin' stories about the Merchant Marine and ships and the sea for three and a half days One night, after that story, decided to ship out, ship out around the world Went down to the Merchant Marine, NMU Hall Gonna get our Seaman's Papers Well, in order to get your Seaman's Papers, you gotta get a letter from a ship owner to the union Then get a letter from the union to the Coast Guard Get a letter from the Coast Guard to the union, get a letter from the Coast Guard to the ship owner, get a letter from the ship owner to the union, get a letter from the union to the ship owner, get a letter from the union to the Coast Guard So we said, "Frig it! We'll build our own ship!" [Sung] Did you ever stand and shiver Just because you were lookin' at a river