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“Well I used to wake the morning before the rooster crowed
searching for soda bottles to get myself some dough
brought ‘em down to the corner, down to the country store
cash ‘em in and give my money to a man named Curtis Loew
Old Curt was a black man with white curly hair
when he had a fifth of wine he did not have a care
he used to own an old dobro, used to play it across his knee
I’d give old Curt my money, he’d play all day for me
Play me a song Curtis Loew, Curtis Loew
I got your drinking money, tune up your dobro
people said he was useless, them people are the fools
‘cause Curtis Loew was the finest picker to ever play the blues
He looked to be sixty, and maybe I was ten
Mama used to whip me but I’d go see him again
I’d clap my hands, stomp my feets, try to stay in time
he’d play me a song or two
then take another drink of wine.
Play me a song Curtis Loew, Curtis Loew
I got your drinking money, tune up your dobro
people said he was useless, them people are the fools
‘cause Curtis Loew was the finest picker to ever play the blues
Yes sir
On the day old Curtis died, nobody came to pray
ol’ preacher said some words, and they chunked him in the clay
but he lived a lifetime playin’ the black man’s blues
and on the day he lost his life, that’s all he had to lose
Play me a song Curtis Loew, Hey Curtis Loew
I wish that you was here so everyone would know
people said he was useless, them people all are fools
‘cause Curtis you’re the finest picker to ever play the blues”.
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Lynyrd Skynyrd, The ballad of Curtis Loew – 4:51
(Allen Collins, Ronnie Van Zant)
Album: Second Helping (1974)
Per segnalare errori su testi o traduzioni, o semplicemente per suggerimenti, richieste d’aiuto e qualunque altra curiosità, potete scriverci all’indirizzo quality@infinititesti.com.
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Citazioni.
“The Ballad of Curtis Loew is a song written by Allen Collins and Ronnie Van Zant and recorded by Lynyrd Skynyrd. The song was first released on the band’s 1974 album, Second Helping and again on their compilation, The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd and later on All Time Greatest Hits. It is on many of their compilation albums and before the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash, was performed once live on stage. Ed King says, “The original version of the band only played ‘Curtis Loew’ one time on stage. We were playing in a basement in some hotel and thought we’d try it. We never played it again until the Tribute Tour with Johnny Van Zant“.
A young boy wakes up “before the rooster crows” and searches for soda bottles to cash in to give some money to a man named Curtis Loew, who buys wine and plays his Dobro guitar “across his knees” for the boy all day. Curtis is described as a “black man with white curly hair” who “looked to be sixty”. The boy idolizes Curtis, returning to him, despite receiving beatings from his mama, to hear the old man play and clap along. The boy recalls “people said he [Curtis] was useless. Them people all were fools.” He professes Curtis to be “the finest picker to ever play the blues”. When Curtis eventually dies, the boy notes that nobody “came to pray”. The song ends with a lament to Curtis: “I wish that you was here so everyone would know”.
The band’s website says that the song is based on a composite of people who actually lived in the Van Zants’ original neighborhood in Jacksonville, Florida. Specifically, the country store “is based on Claude’s Midway Grocery on the corner of Plymouth and Lakeshore [Blvd] in Jacksonville.” The business has since been renamed Sunrise Food Store, but still occupies the same location. The specific spelling of the surname comes from Ed King writing the liner notes for the Second Helping and deciding to name the bluesman after the Jewish Loew’s Theatre. Some of the sources mentioned include Claude H. “Papa” Hammer, Rufus “Tee-Tot” Payne, Robert Johnson and Shorty Medlocke, the grandfather of Rickey Medlocke, Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s drummer during their 1970 tour and one of the band’s current guitarists”.
(Wikipedia, voce The Ballad of Curtis Loew)
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