Lyr Req: Somebody Else, Not Me (from Dave Van Ronk

Subject: Need Lyrics, Van Ronk's Somebody Else Not Me
From:
Date: 09 Jan 99 - 05:27 PM

Please email above if you hace the lyrics to Dave VanRonk's "Somebody Else, not Me" Recorded in 1980 on Philo label

Subject: Lyr Add: SOMEBODY ELSE, NOT ME / WONDERFUL CHANCE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Mar 03 - 11:53 PM

Lyrics copied from http://www.stephaniepiro.com/fc060.htm where it says the title is "A Wonderful Chance" and it was written by Bert Williams in the 1920's. Other sources say the song was written by "Hanley/MacDonald."

A WONDERFUL CHANCE

Great moments come to every man
Some situations where he can
Achieve such fame that folks acclaim
The very mention of his name.

A circus played our town one day
Three Bengal tigers got away.
The manager looked straight at me,
Said, here's your opportunity.

Somebody must get those cats,
But our tiger man is sick in bed,
So put on your hat and coat,
That is what the manager said.

The man that brings them back alive
A hero is gonna be,
It's a wonderful chance for somebody
Somebody else - not me!

Subject: RE: Need Lyrics, Van Ronk's Somebody Else Not Me
From: dwditty
Date: 02 Mar 03 - 11:24 PM

DVR always attributed this song to Williams. Leeds, Please post the chords for this song.

Subject: RE: Need Lyrics, Van Ronk's Somebody Else Not Me
From: GUEST,There is another verse...
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 09:00 PM

My father had a recording of this poem on an old '78 record and I remember this second verse:

Ivory bones with ebony dots
Oft times lead to cemetary lots
The game last night brought on a fight
That ended up in pistol shots

Now I was furthest from the door
(the others all got there before)
And a brother on the floor lay dead
While through the transom somebody said:

Now somebody's got to stay behind
Yes, sombody's got to remain
So when the police officers, When they arrive
To explain why this brother's no longer alive.

The man who stays behind and sees this whole thing through
A real hero is going to be...

Yes, sir, that's a wonderful chance for somebody
It's gotta be somebody else, not me.

Subject: RE: Need Lyrics, Van Ronk's Somebody Else Not Me
From: dwditty
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 08:22 AM

The Video (or DVD) of Van Ronk's last concert (The Bottom Line - June 2, 2001) offers some excellent shots of Van Ronk's chord shapes, but I'll be damned if I can fingure them out. In any event, any fan of VR should own this video.

Subject: RE: Need Lyrics, Van Ronk's Somebody Else Not Me
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 10:31 AM

Chord shapes are fine as far as they go, but they're no earthly good unless you know what tuning his guitar is in.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Need Lyrics, Van Ronk's Somebody Else Not Me
From: dwditty
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 12:30 PM

Van Ronk always played in standard or dropped d tuning, as near as I can tell.

Subject: RE: Need Lyrics, Van Ronk's Somebody Else Not Me
From: GUEST,non member Bertie
Date: 23 Oct 03 - 05:24 AM

The tuning of his guitar in this tune is normal, I posted the chords in the thread: "Somebody else not me", look there.
Greetings
Bertie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Somebody Else, Not Me (from Dave Van Ronk
From: GUEST,Cliff s
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 05:35 PM

Yet another verse by Van Ronk:

I did a little time in world war two
When them panzer tanks came rolling through
in the middle of a mine field field beneath barbed wire
They pinned us down with machine gun fire
There were bullets flying everywhere and shrapnel shrapening everywhere

My captain showed no fear
Said he, "I need a volunteer
Somebody has got to storm that hill
Somebody has got to go
Just to charge up that hill where those mines are laid
And to blow them to hell with a hnd grenade
The man who storms that hill," He said,
"Will live in history."

I'd rather live in Hackensack

It's got to be somebody else, not me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Somebody Else, Not Me (from Dave Van Ronk
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Aug 05 - 09:47 AM

See this thread:
Lyr Req: Somebody Else Not Me

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Somebody Else, Not Me (from Dave Van Ronk
From: Max
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 09:11 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Somebody Else, Not Me (from Dave Van Ronk
From: Beer
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 11:26 PM

What a great video Max.
Thanks.
adrien

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Somebody Else, Not Me (from Dave Van Ronk
From: kendall
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 07:43 AM

I still have Phil Harris' version from the 40s.