Bobert-

Your friend reminds of this song that one of our band members used to lead about a similar character in Down East Maine (copy and paste into WORD/TIMES/12 to line up the chords):

By James Harper ©1988, as sung by Molly Carlson; slightly changed by Charles Ipcar, 2005; further adapted by Sandy McLean, 2005

THE KING OF MAINE

G-C-G----------------------------C------------------G
Jo-ey Jones was a native of the Sunrise County shores;
-----C--G-------------------------------------A------------------D
Peo-ple claimed that he was crazy, from shellshock in the war,
----------G---------------G7-------------C-----------------------G
He lived on a road less traveled, in a shack perched by the sea;
---------------------------------D-------------------G
And he was a dear friend to all my friends and me.
---------C-----------------------------------G-----------C----G
He was old when I first met him, and a gentle kin-dred soul
---D---G---------------------------------------D--------------D7
To the ones like me who loved to hear his tales of long ago;
---------G---------------------G7------------------C-----------------G
He told how this land was conquered by the gleam of Viking gold,
-------C----G-------------------------------------------D----------------G
When they sailed with Lief the Lucky from their land of endless cold.

G7--------C---------------------------------------G
And we'd climb to where he always liked to be,
---D-G-------------------------------------Am----------------D
To a hill above the barrens 'tween the Jack Pine and the sea;
-------------G---------------G7------------C---------------------G
There we'd rest upon the stones in the place he called his throne,
C------------------G-----------------D-----------D7--G
Surveying all the kingdom of the Last-King Joey Jones.

Like the Roanoke colonials who were lost without a trace,
No one knows the fateful ending of that ancient Viking race;
But I found myself believing in an old man's simple claim,
To be the last lord ruling from the Maritimes to Maine;
"When my last day is upon me," said my King-without-a-crown,
"For the honor of my Fathers I can't rest on Christian ground;
And if Jesus comes to greet me, well, I'm sure He'd understand
For Odin ruled the Vikings and from Him I take command."

"Let me lie where I've always liked to be!
Let my spirit greet the morning as it rises from the sea!
Let a cairn of native stone and the wind which sings and moans
Bear witness to the resting place of the Last-King Joey Jones!"

I won't tell you how we found him, or the oath my friends all swore;
How we climbed that hill together with the burden that we bore
He just disappeared one evening is the tale most often told,
Leaving rusted army medals and ancient coins of gold;
Maybe Joe was crazy but that doesn't change a thing,
If the good were meant to lead us he'd have had my vote for King!
Though he's mostly now forgotten, still I climb this hill alone,
Singing "Skoal, to the Northland and to Good-King Joey Jones!"

For he lies where he always liked to be,
Where the rays of endless morning come rising from the sea;
Goodbye, Joey Jones, Lord of all this land of stones,
May you sleep in peace forever, goodbye, King Joey Jones.

                      (spoken)
By whatever name He's known,
May God bless these weary bones!
Farewell, 'till we all rise with endless morning.

Haven't thought about that song in years!

Charley Noble