“Life In Song” #16: “Old Joe” Another song about an imagined character. Old Joe is kind of a combination of my grandparents on my dad’s side as well as other crusty old geezers I’ve known or seen portrayed in movies or in stories…I kind of hope when I’m really old I’ll be just like him as well…Not sure if I have any other recordings of this, I’ll dig around and if I can find them, they’ll be in the “backstage pass” members area...which if you haven’t joined yet you over here…=====>
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Audio:
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Lyrics:
Old Joe | March 1978 | Song # 16
Old Joe, he don’t go
Farther than the front steps you know
He sits on the porch with a bottle in a bag
Humming a sweet refrain from a Scott Joplin Rag…
Now Old Joe, he don’t know
None of that “Goddamn Rock N Roll”
Ain’t in to high fidelity
Never listens to the Radio
Makes all the music he could want
On A Sears-Roebuck banjo
Refrain:
He’s 89 and he says he feels just fine
Says the Lord’s welcome to take him any time
But if the Lord don’t want him, Old Joe don’t mind
He grew up in western Indiana
Round the turn of the century
He knew the ways of the corn field forest
And the waves of the wheat field sea
Old Joe always grows
Lots of good stuff out back you know
Got a garden full of cucumbers
Onions and potatoes
Got carrots and head lettuce
And Juicy red tomatoes…
Now Old Joe, he kind of mean
To the kids that steal his green beans
But nonetheless his garden’s blessed
If you’ve seen it you know what I mean…
Refrain:
Old Joe, he don’t care
Much ‘bout fancy clothes to wear
Got some well patched old green kakis
And some good bib overalls
And he keeps ‘em clean with the warshin’ machine
He’s had for years and years…
Now old Joe, he jest stays
Right ‘bout where he is these days
Yet he says he been to ‘Frisco
And he claims he been to Rome
But you’d have to say that in it’s own way
His rocking chair is his home…
Refrain:
Tuning: Standard, Capo on 2nd fret
“Old Joe” by Mark Shepard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
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