Lyr Req: Blue Wing (Tom Russell)

Subject: Tom Russell
From: Mudjack
Date: 26 Jun 99 - 01:36 AM

I went to see/hear Tom Russell in Portland last night. This guy just never stops amazing me. He has covered just about every kind of music and now his newest release and concert songs have some serious Irish roots. He was great and special thanks goes out to Frank from Toledo who alerted me that Tom was touring the Northwest.
Mj

Subject: RE: Tom Russell
From: Frank of Toledo
Date: 26 Jun 99 - 07:01 PM

Thank you Mudjack......Tom and his guitar player Andrew Hardin were here in Toledo, Or. Wednesday night, and they were as good as its gets. It was one of my better concerts this year, and to top the evening off, Tom had me on stage to join him and Andrew onBlue Wing". A great night of music for the Toledo Folks and a thrill of a lifetime for me......... Next month July 28th I'm having Dick Gaughan in concert, so if anybody is close to Toledo, Oregon you're welcome as a Mudcatter to be my guest(s).......

Subject: RE: Tom Russell
From: Mudjack
Date: 26 Jun 99 - 09:10 PM

Damnnnnn, I really missed out, it just ain't fair, you didn't tell us about the extra bonus. As I had wrote you before I had to see their show Thursday. I got off from work at 5:30, showered and drove like thunder for two hours with a few minutes to spare. Yeah...the show was HOT stuff. Andrew is some kind of picker. Have you got the chord progressin to Blue Wing? I had your e-mail and seems I lost it when I tried to revamp my mail list.(changed mail browsers).If it's possible...Thanks
Mj

Subject: RE: Tom Russell
From: Frank of Toledo
Date: 26 Jun 99 - 10:08 PM

C C HE HAD A BLUE WING TATOOED ON HIS SHOULDER....MIGHT HAVE BEEN A DM BLUEBIRD I DON'T KNOW...... G7 C HE GET STONED DRUNK AND TALK ABOUT ALASKA..SALMON BOATS & 45 BELOW C HE GOT THAT BLUE WING IN JAIL IN WALLA WALLA..HIS CELLMATE THERE WAS LITTLE WILLY DM JOHN... G7 C

NOW WILLY HE WAS ONCE A GREAT BLUES SINGER..AND WINGIN' WILLY WROTE HIM UP A SONG

C F SAID IT'S DARK IN HERE..CAN'T SEE THE SKY F C BUT I LOOK AT THIS BLUE WING AND CLOSE MY EYES C F AND I FLY AWAY..BEYOND THESE WALLS................ C G7 UP ABOVE THE CLOUDS WHERE THE RAIN DON'T FALL AM G7 AM ON A POOR MAN'S DREAM....YEH YEH..ON A POOR MAN'S DREAM....

The chorus ends with the AM or you can end with a C if you wish. Also if you need the rest of the words let me know...Also where are you located in the Northwest? Maybe we could get together....

Subject: RE: Tom Russell
From: Mudjack
Date: 27 Jun 99 - 02:04 AM

Thanks Frank

Mj

Subject: RE: Tom Russell
From: Mudjack
Date: 27 Jun 99 - 02:07 AM

I'll see you at Barbara's gathering, I'm located in Goldendale, WA 13 mi north of Biggs OR.
Mj

Subject: RE: Tom Russell
From: The Shambles
Date: 27 Jun 99 - 11:21 AM

Thank you for the invite Frank. It might be a little too far to travel, even to see Dick Gaughan, but I would urge anyone close enough, to take Frank up on his kind offer.

Subject: RE: Tom Russell
From: Frank of Toledo
Date: 28 Jun 99 - 10:48 AM

Anyone interested in attending the Dick Gaughan concert on Wednesday July 28th 7pm in Toledo, Oregon can contact us at or 1-541-336-5743...We're working on a Folk Festival of Traditional music sometime in March; will keep you posted.

Subject: I. Tyson & Tom Russell coming up on Mtn Stage
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 01:14 PM

Just heard on NPR that Ian Tyson will be a guest on Mountain Stage this week (Sunday, I think), depending on when your local station schedulaes it.

The August 15th show will feature Tom Russell.

Theay are working going on line with bradcasts, but until they do, here is a link to their page which tells you which radio stations carry it, in case you don't know:

Mountain Stage

Should be a good listen.

Subject: Lyr Add: BLUE WING (Tom Russell)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Feb 06 - 04:35 PM

Here's the rest of the lyrics to BLUE WING, copied from http://insurgentcountry.net/dave_alvin_blue_wing.txt:

BLUE WING
Tom Russell

He had a blue wing tattooed on his shoulder. Might've been a bluebird, I don't know;
But he'd get stone drunk and talk about Alaska, salmon boats, and forty-five below.
Well, he got that blue wing in jail in Walla Walla, and his cellmate there was Little Willie John.
Willie he was once a great blues singer, so Wing and Willie wrote him up a song.

CHORUS: Said, "It's dark in here. I can't see the sky,
But I look at this blue wing, and I close my eye,
And I fly away beyond these walls,
Up above the clouds where the rain don't fall on a poor man's dream."

Well, they paroled Blue Wing in August, 1963,
And he moved on picking apples to the town of Winatchee,
Where the winter finally caught him in a rundown trailer park
On the south side of Seattle where the days grow gray and dark.

He drank and he dreamt a vision of when the salmon still ran free
And his father's fathers crossed that wide, old Bering Sea,
And the land belonged to everyone, and there were old songs yet to sing.
Now it's narrowed down to a cheap hotel and a tattooed prison wing. CHORUS

Well, he drank his way to L.A. and that's where he died.
No one knew his Christian name, and there was no one there who cried,
But I dreamt there was a service, a preacher, and an old pine box.
Halfway through the sermon, Blue Wing began to talk. CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Blue Wing (Tom Russell)
From: open mike
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 08:01 PM

a search for the lyrics does not show a D.T. entry..but here are the lyrics to one of Tom Russell's most amazing songs...it should be in there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Blue Wing (Tom Russell)
From: voyager
Date: 05 Jan 12 - 02:41 PM

I'm a bit late to the dance, but listening to this tune on the Dave Alvin CD opened my ears to Tom Russell's songwriting talents. The nugget for me is the reference to 'Little Willie John'. This bluesman's tune, 'I'm Shaking' was featured by Mollie O'Brien & Rich Moore in their Denver concert last week.

voyager

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Blue Wing (Tom Russell)
From: voyager
Date: 05 Jan 12 - 02:55 PM

Found it -
Little Willie John Thread

Another successful adventure in Mudcat musical archaeology ('Fever' - Wow!).

voyager