Lyric Theatre 4/11/10

Today in the Lyric Theatre we salute Billy Joe Shaver and his great song "Georgia on a Fast Train."

In other news, Billy Joe himself had a bit of a close shave this week, but in the end, Texas justice prevailed, and he was acquitted on that little ol' charge of shooting some other guy in a bar in Waco. Read the story though, so you can see how it is in the lives of people who bicker in bars, shoot at people, and then hope to become friends with the victim, following a trial which numbered Willie Nelson among the courtroom spectators.

You know how they say the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation? "They," in this case, means Thoreau, Henry David, and you have to figure that if he were around today he would probably have built his hut in Austin TX to get a foothold in the world of country ballad writing. Mr Shaver rejects that life of quiet desperation as well, preferring the loud report of a .22 in the palm of his hand to a more reasoned approach.

But he can write a song, I want to tell you. Lyrics to "Georgia on a Fast Train":


On a rainy Wednesday morning that's the day that I was born on
In that old sharecropper's one room country shack
They say my mammy left me, same day that she had me
Said she hit the road and never once looked back


And I just thought I'd mention, my Grandma's old age pension
Is the reason why I'm standing here today
I got all my country learning, living and a churning
Pickin' cotton, raisin' hell, and bailin' hay


I've been to Georgia on a fast train honey
I wasn't born no yesterday
Got a good Christian raisin' and an eighth grade education
Ain't no need in y'all a treatin' me this way


And now sweet Carolina, I don't guess I'll ever find
Another woman put together like you all
With your wiggle and your walkin', and your big city talkin'
Your brand new shiny Plymouth rag-top car


Yeah it's hurry up and wait, in this world of give and take
Seems like haste it makes for waste every time
And I pray to my soul, when you hear those ages roll
You better know I'm gonna get my share of mine

I've been to Georgia on a fast train honey
I wasn't born no yesterday
Got a good Christian raisin' and an eighth grade education
Ain't no need in y'all a treatin' me this way

So, just because someone seems backward and unsophisticated, there's no justification for picking on them. You never know who knows what!

I sure don't.