BROTHER RAY AND SISTER REE
Words & Music © John Morton 1997.
But Brother Ray and Sister Ree—
They just blow me away
Like a leaf on the breeze;
They tell it like it is to me,
Taking pride of place
In my memories.
I knew the score from the moment I was born—
The breath of heaven came blowing through a horn
Down on the corner, in the blind boy’s blues,
Where, for a quarter,
He would shine your shoes.
The other kids would be out shooting pool,
While I’d be sat on that old piano stool,
And teacher’d truly catch me a smack
If I played the boogie
When she turned her back;
Turned her back.
But Brother Ray and Sister Ree—
They still show me the way,
Like they did in my teens;
It’s still the way it used to be
Every time they play
On my record machine.
And when I finally left home, hardly grown,
My only friend was that good old gramophone.
It might have only played forty-fives,
But when you’re lonely,
They can save your life.
Now when they say “Can you play like Aretha?”
Or when they ask you “Can you play like Ray?”
What they don’t know is that you can’t play like either,
But that what you can do
Is to be yourself;
Be yourself.
But Brother Ray and Sister Ree—
They’re still blazing the trail
For every wannabee;
The inspiration guiding me,
To this very day,
To be all I can be.
You’ve got to make some sense of the charts;
You’ve got to fake it when you just can’t read the parts;
But not a break in any goddamned
song—
’Cause you’ve just to cut it
When the red light’s on.
And so I stay in the pay of the label,
’Cause that’s the way you put the meals on the table,
While Mister Bigshot rakes in the
bucks—
Oh, sure I love the music,
But the business sucks;
The business sucks.
But Brother Ray and Sister Ree—
They still blow me away
Like a leaf on the breeze;
They tell it like it is to me,
Taking pride of place
In my memories.
But Brother Ray and Sister Ree—
They just go their own way,
Like a boat on the sea,
Beyond the whims of the industry;
And that’s why, as they say,
The rest is history.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
(Rpt. x7)
this song is looking for a singer…
