Lyr Req: A Folksinger Earns Every Dime

Subject: ADD: A Folksinger Earns Every Dime (Buskin)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Jun 03 - 12:01 AM

Thanks, Jim, that's just the information I needed. Fast Folk was disappointing in many ways (like that it did not give me the last year of subscription I paid for), but it did have a good song here and there.

A Folksinger Earns Every Dime
(David Buskin/Robin Batteau/Avera Bingham)

Come all you wearers of Birkenstock shoes
You LL Beaners and you J. Crews
We'll tell you a story of toil and of strife
And the hardship that comes with a folksinger's life

Well, it's up in the morning as early as ten
And it's yesterday's coffee or make some again
But you gotta get rolling 'cause it's almost noon
The show is at eight and there's six strings to tune

And it's hard, buddy, it's hard
Living off rhythm and rhyme
Well it's hard, bucko, it's hard
A folksinger earns every dime

Your fingers are sore from the concert last night
But you've gotta ignore it, there's folk songs to write
'Bout people and places and hard luck and things
Wherever there's trouble, a folksinger sings

Well you're out on the road and the living is hell
You might even get stuck in some two-star hotel
Where they haven't got Showtime and the bed sheets are creased
And the room service takes twenty minutes at least

And it's hard, fella, it's hard
Living off rhythm and rhyme
Well it's hard, amigo, it's hard
A folksinger earns every dime

Well, it's off to the hoot but you're having bad luck
The crowd yells, Sing 'Love Shack!"
The crowd yells, "You suck!"
And the trio before you is playing too long
They just closed out their set with your opening song

And it's hard, hoo boy, it's hard
Living off rhythm and rhyme
Well it's hard, dude, it's hard
A folksinger earns every dime

You're playing a festival south of the Smokies
On a stool full of splinters and a field full of folkies
Tom Paxton is late so you gotta keep strummin'
When a man cries, "Look out, there's a mime troupe a-comin"'

Your blood starts to boil and your skin starts to crawl
They're doing the Robot, they're doing the Wall
It's like a bad dream or a weird deja vu
Of the Great Mime Disaster of '72

And it's hard, Muffy, it's hard
Living off rhythm and rhyme
Well it's hard, Woody, it's hard
A folksinger earns every dime


Source: Fast Folk Musical Magazine, October 1992, Vol 6, No 3 & 4

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: folksinger earns every dime
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Jun 03 - 11:45 PM

"A Folksinger Earns Every Dime" is performed by David Buskin on the compilation "Big Times in a Small Town: The Vineyard Tapes," Philo PH1155, 1993; and by Christine Lavin & Co. on "Fast Folk Magazine, Vol. 6 # 3/4," 1992.

AMG attributes authorship to "Batteau/B/B." I guess that would be Robin Batteau, David Buskin, and someone else whose name starts with a B.

For lyrics, best I could do was transcribe this much from a sound sample found at Yahoo! Shopping - Music:

...gotta get rollin' 'cause it's almost noon.
The show is at eight and there's twelve-strings to tune.

CHORUS: And it's hard, buddy, it's hard,
Living off rhythm and rhyme.
And it's hard, Bucko, it's hard.
A folksinger earns every dime.

Your fingers are sore from the concert last night
But you gotta ignore...

It's done a cappella in the style of a chantey or work song.

Subject: Lyr Req: folksinger earns every dime
From: GUEST,Marjorie
Date: 10 Jun 03 - 04:50 PM

Does anyone have lyrics for this song? I think David Buskin wrote it.