Twenty-three years ago when the band (Sonoma Mountain Band) started, we performed at small venues, just as it should be, because you need to, “Pay you dues!” The audiences were small in number, but they listened, really listened to the songs. The words, the instrumentation, the arrangements, and all the good stuff that bands spend hours, days, weeks, months, and years trying to get as close to perfect as possible. As time went by the audiences grew larger, the venues more impressive, and we got more jobs playing bluegrass music. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the audiences produced more and more noise, and often they were louder than the band (even with a sound system). Yes, that’s right, they didn’t really listen, and they came out to party, drink heavily, and occasionally became obnoxious. Of course not all of the audience members were less than desirable, some folks came out to listen to the band, but they were regularly put-off by the table racket because it interfered with the music they came out to hear. One time when I approached one of the venue owners, with what I found out was MY problem, he said, “The customers are here to have a good time, and the band is just here to help them have a good time. Whether or not they listen to the band is not my concern.” So I decided to take a little bit different approach. If the audience was doing what they wanted, then I could too. Within reason. Couldn’t I? What I decided to do was change a word or two of the song being performed. What I wanted to find out from audience was, “Are you listening?” Really listening? Following are some examples of my minor surgery to a few songs with which you readers may be familiar.
ALL THE GOOD TIMES ARE PAST AND GONE = “All the bad times are past and gone.”
THE BALLAD OF JED CLAMPETT = “Come and listen to a story ’bout a man named Ted.”
BLACKED EYED SUSIE = “Blacked eyed Floozy went to town.”
BURY ME BENEATH THE WILLOW = “Bury me beneath the pillow.”
CAN’T YOU HEAR ME CALLING = “Sweetheart of mine can’t you hear me bawling.”
COLD, COLD HEART = “Why can’t I free you doubtful mind and melt your cold, cold, fart.”
CRIPPLE CREEK = “Goin’ up Cripple Creek, goin’ in a run. Goin’ up Cripple Creek to get my gun.”
DARCY FARROW = “There lived a maiden, Darcy Sparrow was her name.”
EAST VIRGINIA BLUES = “I was born in West Virginia.”
GO TELL AUNT RODIE = “Go tell Uncle Rodie.”
HEY, HEY BARTENDER = “Hey, hey beertender.”
I HEAR A CHOO CHOO = “I hear a cuckoo coming.”
I’ll FLY AWAY = “Some bright morning when this life is over, I’ll fry away.”
I’M GONNA SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN = “So I’m gonna sleep with two eyes open from now on.”
I’M ON MY WAY BACK TO THE OLD HOME = “I’m on my way back to the outhouse.”
Right now you may be thinking, “So why change a word in a song, what good does it do?” Well, sometimes a word is worth a thousand pictures.
