Col. Bruce Hampton Ret. (Live)

I got this song I'd love to try on you
It was based on a thing I heard Jerry Jeff Walker say
But when we were talking, I called him and I asked him what he meant
And when he told me, I knew that he was sick
But I didn't know how close, you know? Very close

But when I was working I, the reason I was asking him was 'cause I had a song I was working on
About another, er, legend named Colonel Bruce Hampton, retired
And he had just, er, passed away in the most fantastic way
He, he er, started a band called The John Hampton Grease Band, when he was really young

And in the first interview he ever did for that band
They asked him what his goal in life was
And he said he wanted to make grease
And they said, "What's that even mean?"
He said, "I wanna die on stage, while I'm singing my music"
And then, many years later, on the eve of his 70th birthday, last line of the last song
He dropped dead in front of seven-thousand people

It was amazing thing to behold
Brian and I were both there
He had this religion, it was his 70th birthday party
And he had invented this religion called the Zambi religion
That was the religion of the travelling musician

And there was all these big, famous musicians there that night
That were gonna jam with him
And they all, there was a pre-show song that he had taught everybody in the Southern Rock World
To sing before they go on
I can't show it to you or sing it to you, 'cause it's a sacred thing

But that night I couldn't believe how many people knew that song
And right before the show, everybody gathered and sang it
And I thought, man, this is a deep, long historic thing I'm part of right now
And er, I asked him one time what the Zambi religion was
And he said it was based on this cat that he had gone, er, to high-school with

That had aced the SATs and was the valedictorian of his class
And he decided that what he wanted to do with his future
Was set the record for driving a car backward, faster than anyone had ever done that before
And he didn't set the record, but he broke a lot of bones in his body

And then John Hampton would say
"And if you can't see the genius in that, maybe the Zambi religion isn't for you"
I've made this up for him, but I guess I also do it for Jerry Jeff Walker, who said-