Here’s an old talking blues I found in my files, cleaned up a bit, and added chords to. It might be hard to figure out the rhythm in places, so I’ve italicized the main beats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walk<\/em>ing down the street one fine<\/em> summer day I said<\/em> to him, \u201cKid, you might<\/em> be right, \u201cYou\u2019ll<\/em> be damned,\u201d he said mourn<\/em>fully, Now that<\/em> poor fellow, when he up<\/em> and dies, As<\/em> for me, when I up<\/em> and die, If we want<\/em> to get to heaven, here\u2019s what<\/em> we\u2019re going to do: D – G – \/ (c) 2018 Dan Harper (with thanks to Ted Schade and the New Bedford Folk Choir, 2009)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here’s an old talking blues I found in my files, cleaned up a bit, and added chords to. It might be hard to figure out the rhythm in places, so I’ve italicized the main beats. Walking down the street one fine summer dayA young man stopped me ’cause he had something to say:\u201cIf you want … Continue reading “Talking Proselytizer Blues”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musical-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6754"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9867,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6754\/revisions\/9867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
A young<\/em> man stopped me ’cause he had<\/em> something to say:
\u201cIf you want<\/em> to get to heaven when you up<\/em> and die,
\u201cYou bet<\/em>ter come to my church, going to tell<\/em> you why:
\u201cYou\u2019re<\/em> an old man… Time<\/em> to turn to Jesus…
\u201cWe\u2019ll<\/em> help save you… Make<\/em> you right with God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut I think<\/em> that you and I are fighting dif<\/em>ferent fights:
\u201cI’m fighting<\/em> to save the world and I’m fighting<\/em> to save the land;
\u201cYour<\/em> kind of saving I don’t real<\/em>ly understand.
“But God<\/em> and me go way back… Je<\/em>sus too…
\u201cAnd who<\/em> you calling old… Young whip<\/em>persnapper…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you<\/em> don\u2019t stop your sinful ways and fol<\/em>low me!\u201d
That\u2019s all<\/em> he could say. I feel<\/em> kind of bad,
But I laughed<\/em> at him, and he walked<\/em> away mad.
I let<\/em> him go… Sad<\/em> kind of fellow…
Nev<\/em>er smiled once… De<\/em>pressed…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s<\/em> going to get one hell<\/em> of a surprise,
Saint Pet<\/em>er\u2019s going to ask him, \u201cKid, what<\/em> did you do?
\u201cDid you fight<\/em> for peace and justice, the envir<\/em>onment, too?
\u201cSay<\/em> what?… Most<\/em>ly proselytized?
\u201cGee,<\/em> that\u2019s too bad… Say hi<\/em> to Lucifer for me…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saint Pet<\/em>er\u2019s going to be the one who gets<\/em> a surprise,
I\u2019ll march<\/em> right past him, headed straight<\/em> on down,
Fight<\/em> for peace and justice there un<\/em>der the ground.
Org<\/em>anize the damned… Un<\/em>ionize the devils…
Roll<\/em> the bosses over… Turn hell<\/em> into heaven…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Going to fight<\/em> for peace and justice, maybe sing<\/em> about it too;
Going to stop<\/em> climate change so we don\u2019t<\/em> get barbecued;
And if folks<\/em> need to eat then we\u2019re going<\/em> to get them food.
That\u2019s<\/em> the path to heaven… Clean<\/em> air and water…
So<\/em>cial justice… And plen<\/em>ty of food…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A7 – D – \/
D – G – \/
A7 – D7 – \/
G7 – – – \/
A7 – – – \/\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n