BRING HIM BACK NEXT YEAR

Words & Music - Graham & Bernadette Dixon (Trouble at’ Mill)

Arthritic fingers pluck the strings and walk the neck
The tongue trips over lyrics that the memory forgets
The eyesight growing dimmer as it scans to read the song
Thank goodness it’s a Folk Club where the audience sing along

And we’ll all join in the chorus as we listen to him sing
Raising up our voices so to make those rafters ring
And when the show is over we’ll shout and clap and cheer
And beg the organisers to bring him back next year
Yes! We’ll beg the organisers to bring him back next year

The backing band has long since gone and now he’s all alone
The stage a daunting prospect when he’s sat there on his own
Frazzled nerves they start to fade and adrenalin starts to flow
Back comes all that charisma to steer him through his show

The patter’s good as ever it puts a smile on many a face
And the retort to some banter puts a ‘heckler’ in his place
Then the crowd go deathly quiet as his guitar starts to play
And a hundred feet they start to tap as the show gets underway

We are mesmorised by stories of experiences gone by
Some make us laugh, some make us sad some even make us cry
We listen to the new songs with sincere attentiveness
But the old songs, with the choruses are the ones we love the best

Arthritic fingers pluck the strings and walk the neck
The tongue trips over lyrics that the memory forgets
The eyesight growing dimmer as it scans to read the song
Thank goodness it’s a Folk Club where the audience sing along
Thank goodness it’s a Folk Club where the audience sing along

Hear the song here https://youtu.be/pNlR_k_tnog?si=Wh0IDh0gVRRMgEi_

We went to see a favourite of ours (No name - no pack drill) in concert. We had seen him several times before both as a member of a top folk band and a top duo. This was his first venture on his own. He was late starting and it was quite obvious that he was struggling (Frazzled). It transpired that he had been delayed by a fatal accident, on the motorway, involving a child. It took him about 20 minutes to get into the swing of things.
I had written the first couple of lines, of this song, about a recent experience of my own but it morphed into my perception of this mans experience, on that night.
Should add I've seen him do a show since and he was back to his 'Old self' 100%
GD