The kid heard the word up in Brooklyn.

It was his second year of medical school.

He went and stashed some jeans into his guitar case,

His father said, "You're a fool".

But the boy jumped on board a Greyhound bus,

It took him two days to get to Mobile,

And though it took two weeks to track the old man down,

He never doubted that the rumor was real.



But there the old man stood by the store front,

With his white cane hanging from his belt.

And he was bending the steel of his guitar strings

So it seemed like the metal had to melt.

He was the last of the street corner singers

Paying his final years of dues

The voice in his throat was like a bullfrog croak

Yes it's he who invented the blues.



"To play the blues, boy, you got to live 'em

Got your dues, boy, you know you got to give 'em

Got to start sweet like a slow blues rhythm

Like a heartbeat you'll always be with 'em

When you're married to the blues, boy,

Your guitar is your wife.

It's like that fine old woman

Who you're faithful to for life."



Well the kid walked up as the blind man finished

And was bent to put his guitar away.

The old man heard him and said, "Who are you?"

"I'm the kid you're gonna teach to play."

The old man laughed but the kid kept talking 'bout

How he'd help him get around

That's when the old man said,

"I don't need no fool to get me where in the hell I'm bound"



The kid nods his head with a great big grin and says,

"When do we begin?"

That's when the old man said,

"If You're staying with me

This is how it's got to be..."



"To play the blues, boy, you got to live 'em

Got your dues, boy, you know you got to give 'em

Got to s