The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #123678   Message #2725424
Posted By: Jim Dixon
17-Sep-09 - 12:29 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Schenectady Calling ... (Michael Marra)
Subject: Lyr Add: SCHENECTADY CALLING ... (Michael Marra)
This was requested in another thread.

You can see and hear Michael Marra singing SCHENECTADY CALLING PEERIE WILLIE JOHNSON in a video at YouTube. There is also a long introduction in which he tells the story behind the song and how he came to write it.

Here is my transcription (omitting the spoken introduction):


SCHENECTADY CALLING PEERIE WILLIE JOHNSON
Michael Marra

Schenectady calling!
Schenectady calling!
Take these notes into the night
And run them by the northern lights.
Transport these golden bars.
Let this music touch the stars
And snuggle down into Da Noost
Where Peerie Willie makes his hoose;
And let this music run through his fingers.
Let it touch his very soul.
Schenectady calling!
Schenectady calling!
And let the cymbals tingle in a distant ear,
The signal twinkle by the Bressay Pier.
In that long dark night, let Eddie Lang be near
This sophisticated man.
And so to Willie, Harlem speaks,
His fingers painting what his soul receives.
Blessed Django comes to call,
Smashing down those foolish walls.
This signal flies into the night
And flashes by the Lerwick lights.
A nice explosion run through his fingers and ignites his very soul.
Schenectady calling!
Schenectady calling!
We love you madly.
Schenectady calling!


[And here is some information about "Peerie" Willie Johnson.]

[Corrections made as suggested by later messages.]