Mother Blues

When I was a young man
About 21 years old, y'all
All I wanted was a stripper girlfriend
And a Gold Top Les Paul
Be careful of the things you wish for
You might get 'em

There was a nightclub in Dallas
It's called Mother Blues
It's where Lightning Hopkins played
And Freddy King even paid some dues

And all the dealers and gamblers
And young white hipsters, they all made the scene
The girl at the door who checked IDs
Was just 16

Ah, it was not a place for law-abiding citizens
Jackie Jones he had him a habit, he just couldn't stop
He said give me 500 dollars
And I'll sell you my Les Paul Gold Top

I drove my daddy's car down to Ross Avenue
And I sold it
I guess I should have told him
He alluded to the police that someone stoled it

It was just the first of many bad decisions
I was to make for the next 20 years
Oh, but I, I had me a guitar

Everybody knows
That the real nightlife
Begins after the clubs close
What they call "after-hours"

It's 2 a.m., and everybody's gone
But the band, the dealers, and Jack Jones
And then the girls from the landing strip club come over
After they put their clothes back on

So I'm at Ma Blues and I'm sitting on an amp
I'm playing "Twist and Shout"
And this tall drink of water walked in
Looked like she might have to shoot her way out

She come up to me
She says, "You know anything good on that guitar?"
I didn't say nothing, I just kept on playing
She said, "Have you ever heard this song
Called Polk Salad Annie?" I just kept on playing

She said, "Every time I hear that song
My insides feel like warm butter
And I just wanna take off my clothes
And dance around in my underwear"

I said, "Down in Louisiana
Oh, where the alligator grow so mean"
Oh!
Oh, that's all I knew of it, but it was enough
Oh!

So we hit it off, me and this dancer
We hit it off like a metaphor
Like a metaphor for a hydrogen bomb
We was enriched uranium, supercritical mass
We was a, a chain reaction
It was love and lust
Ah, mostly lust, but a mutual attraction

So there I was, boys, at 21 years old, I had it all
I had a fine stripper girlfriend and a Gold Top Les Paul
Ah, the future, ah it looked promising
Oh, but, but there were dark clouds on the horizon

She was a beautiful girl
But she liked to drink tequila and, whoa, that ain't all
I come home 4 or 5 times
And she pawned my Les Paul

We broke up and she went to Hollywood
She married her an actor

She got a job dancing on the Hudson Brothers TV show
And modern lipstick from Max Factor
Oh, I got over her, I'm glad she done alright
I'm glad she done alright, oh, yes I am

Well now me, I never busted through the gates
Into the big time as a rock and roll star
For 40 years I just carried around an old Gold Top guitar

But love and fate are mysterious things
In this funky old world
It was 20 years ago I ended up marrying
That Mother Blues door girl

We had us a boy, he's 18 years old now, he's playing guitar
He ended up with that Les Paul Gold Top, yes, he did
Now I don't know if he's gonna hang his life on it or not
But I'm very grateful for the time I get to share the stage with him

I'm grateful for the time I get to play with musicians
Like George Reiff and Rick Richards
I'm grateful that I get to write these old songs
And travel around the world and play them for people

And they come out and hear me play
And the days that I keep my gratitude
Higher than my expectations
Ah! Well, I have really good days