Heed My Warning
Published on Jan 28, 2013
Blues 'n' Jazz, 1983, 432Hz"You can lead a horse to water
But you can't make him drink
You can send a kid to college
But you can't make him think
You'll never miss your water, baby
Till the well runs dry
And you'll never miss me, baby
Till I say good-bye
Mm hm, you'd better heed my warning
The straw that broke the camel's back
Didn't have to be so big
And when you ran off and left me, baby
I almost blew my wig
They say he who has the last laugh
Always laughs the best
And I'm gonna laugh louder, baby
Than all the rest
Mm hm, baby, you'd better heed
You'd better heed my warning
If you want me to get out, baby
You know you don't have to push
But you'll find a bird in hand
Is worth two in the bush
There's no need to lock the barn door
When the cow is gone
But you're gonna miss me, baby
On some frosty dawn
Mm hm, you know you'd better heed
You'd better heed my warning
It's a long, long road
That don't have a turn
You have to be an early bird
If you wanna catch a worm
They say absence makes
The heart grow fonder
So its plain to see
If the grass look greener yonder
Baby, that's where I'm gonna be
Mm hm, baby, you know you'd better heed
You'd better heed my warning"
Up early this morning.
Listening to BB King.
May his beautiful soul rest in peace.
I am starting to prepare for the beginning piano blues summer camp I teach every year in June. We always listen to some BB. It will be much more meaningful this year. I intend on learning more about his life and sharing it with my Blues Piano Campers.
He was a legend. An icon. He kept the blues alive.
And his lyrics are so authentic. So raw. Full of meaning.
Life is fleeting. And it is not always easy. Sometimes it is downright hard. The Blues was not an easy, painless birth. It was born out of suffering, oppression and strife. But the people who sang the blues did so to rise above. Music is the ultimate healer.
And this road I've chosen is long. A "long, long road that don't have a turn" to quote BB King.
You see, I have been coasting, treading water too long. Reading too many "lose weight the easy way" books. There is no easy path to weight loss and physical fitness. It would not be so rewarding if it was.
Today is my official day off from training. But I woke up early. And I opened Pandora Radio to the BB King station. And I worked out. It hurt. I pushed past the pain. I did 60 crunches. I stretched. I pushed. I grunted.
And I'm glad I did. Because no one really accomplishes anything in life by sitting around complaining and making excuses for themselves. Those who want to be remembered, take their life by the horns and do something! And it is not easy.
"Easy is boring", I often tell my piano students. BB King died at 89 leaving behind a legacy. But it was not handed to him on a silver platter:
A little bit about BB King, who was born "Riley B. King" (From http://www.notablebiographies.com/Jo-Ki/King-B-B.html)
Riley B. King was born on September 16, 1925, between Itta Bena and Indianola, Mississippi. His parents split up when he was a small child, and he lived for a few years with his mother in the Mississippi hills. She died when he was nine, and he was alone until his father, Albert King, found him a few years later. Working on a cotton plantation in Indianola, he earned $22.50 a week. "I guess the earliest sound of blues that I can remember was in the fields while people would be pickin' cotton or choppin' or somethin'." King noted in a 1988 Living Blues interview cited in Contemporary Musicians. "When I sing and play now I can hear those same sounds that I used to hear then as a kid."
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| RIP BB King: Singing with the angels, no longer singin' the blues! |
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