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Author Topic: Steve James Lyrics  (Read 417 times)

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Offline Blues Vintage

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Steve James Lyrics
« on: January 07, 2023, 09:27:47 AM »
Fast Texas


Steve James – Vocals, Guitar

San Marcos or Austin, Texas
October 2002

E Position
Standard Tuning





INTRO

Listen everybody to this song of mine
I’d say it wasn’t long but I just be lyin’
It’s a song about a place you all oughta know
South of Oklahoma north of Mexico
Fast Texas
Fast Texas

I left Memphis for the Lone Star State
Longer ago then I would care to relate
Seemed like folks all wanted to know
What in the world I come down there for
I couldn’t explain I couldn’t put it in to words
It was nothin’ I knew just something I heard
Fast Texas
Fast Texas

You know once upon a time there was a man named Shaw
He and his wife run a grocery store
Down in Austin, Texas a long time ago
East of 35 out on Maynard road
And beside that store stood a barbecue shack
They kept an old piano in a room around the back
Mr. Shaw is gone but to this day
People still remember how he used to play
Fast Texas
Fast Texas

SOLO

Ever since I was old enough to make a record play
I dug Leadbelly songs and the things that he’d say
Nat’rally I heard what Leadbelly said
About the music that he liked to hear when he was just a kid
Played on a piano in a back o’ town bar
Or way out in the country on a fiddle and guitar
Fast Texas
Fast Texas

SOLO

You remember a place they call “The Friendly Spot”
I used to gig down there with Honky Tonk Scott
Didn’t have no windows, no walls, no doors
Just an old tin roof and a cement floor
Benches and tables that were still around
From before that time when the joint burnt down
With a power cord running from the bar in the back
Used to play the guitar while Scotty blew sax
A back beat drummer and a dog house bass
Folks a raise a ruckus all over the place
I ain’t gonna tell you ‘bout the things that went on
Down on the south side of San Antone
Fast Texas
Fast Texas

SOLO

Goodbye everybody better call it gone
Or I’ll be dead in my grave before I finish this song
When I’m gone you all can say
“He wasn’t good looking but he sure could play”
Fast Texas
Fast Texas

OUTRO

« Last Edit: January 08, 2023, 07:07:08 AM by Blues Vintage »

Offline waxwing

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Re: Steve James Lyrics
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2023, 12:44:30 PM »
This is gut wrenching. I hung with Steve quite a bit at Port Townsend when I attended a bunch of times in the aughts, and often caught his Bay Area gigs and would hang out after. He was very supportive of my playing and singing. This sucks! You were a great player, Steve. We'll play again.

I noticed he really is singing rhymed couplets so I did the work to change it over to a stanza format. Makes it easier to locate words, too. Choose the format you like. Suggestions in bold.

Wax

[Edited to add correction in 4.5 and again to add correction to 4.6]

Fast Texas
Steve James acc.own guitar

INTRO

Listen everybody to this song of mine
I’d say it wasn’t long but I’d just be lyin’
It’s a song about a place you all oughta know
South of Oklahoma north of Mexico
Fast Texas
Fast Texas

I left Memphis for the Lone Star State
Longer ago then I would care to relate
Seemed like folks all wanted to know
What in the world I come down there for
I couldn’t explain I couldn’t put it in to words
It wasn’t nothin’ I knew just something I heard
Fast Texas
Fast Texas

You know once upon a time there was a man named Shaw
He and his wife run a grocery store
Down in Austin, Texas a long time ago
East of 35 out on Maynard road
’N’beside that store stood a barbecue shack
They kept an old piano in a room around the back
Mr. Shaw is gone but to this day
People still remember how he used to play
Fast Texas
Fast Texas

SOLO

Ever since I was old enough to make a record play
I dug Leadbelly songs and the things that he’d say
Nat’rally I heard what Leadbelly said
About the music that he liked to hear when he was just a kid
Played on a piano in a back o’ town bar
Or way out in the country on a fiddle and guitar
Fast Texas
Fast Texas

SOLO

You remember a place they call “The Friendly Spot”
I used to gig down there with Honky Tonk Scott
Didn’t have no windows, no walls, no doors
Just an old tin roof and a cement floor
Benches and tables that were still around
From before that time when the joint burnt down
With a power cord running from the bar in the back
Used to play the guitar while Scotty blew sax
A back beat drummer and a dog house bass
Folks’d raise a ruckus all over the place
I ain’t gonna tell you ‘bout the things that went on
Down on the south side of San Antone
Fast Texas
Fast Texas

SOLO

Goodbye everybody better call it gone
Or I’ll be dead in my grave before I finish this song
When I’m gone you all can say
“He wasn’t good looking but he sure could play”
Fast Texas
Fast Texas

OUTRO
« Last Edit: January 07, 2023, 06:24:43 PM by waxwing »
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."
George Bernard Shaw

“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.”
Joseph Heller, Catch-22

http://www.youtube.com/user/WaxwingJohn
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Offline Blues Vintage

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  • Posts: 1970
Re: Steve James Lyrics
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2023, 07:21:41 AM »
Thanks Wax, I took almost all your suggestions. I also like the stanza format.

I think Steve played in E position here but someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

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