Mr. Bojangles

歌詞

I knew a man Bojangles And he danced for you In worn out shoes With silver hair, a ragged shirt, and baggy pants He did the old soft shoe He jumped so high You know he jumped so high And then he lightly touched down Mister Bojangles Mister Bojangles Mister Bojangles C’mon dance I met him in a cell down in New Orleans, alright I was down and out He looked to me to be The eyes of age as he spoke right out He talked of life Yes, he talked of life He laughed and slapped his leg a step He said the name Bojangles And then he danced a lick Across the cell He grabbed his pants a better stance Oh, he jumped up high, high He clicked his heels He let go a laugh You know he let go a laugh He shook back his clothes all around Mister Bojangles Mister Bojangles Mister Bojangles C’mon dance [Spoken by David Bromberg, “This is really a true story, ya know. A lot of people had heard the song. And well, at least Jerry Jeff has told me it was a true story. I played guitar with Jerry Jeff Walker for about two years and we did this song every night for two years. And I never got tired of it. Jerry got a little tired of it. At night after the clubs closed we would do horrible things to it. It was a true story, he, this guy, Bojangles was a, he was a street dancer in New Orleans. What he do was go from bar to bar, and ah, he put-a, put money in the jukebox or get someone else to do it. And then he would either dance or pantomime the tune, right. And for that people would buy him drinks, get him pretty drunk, and then he would go onto the next bar and, the next one until it was closing time. And then he would do it the next night. And after a few night of this, he would end up on the corner and the cops would pick him up and take him to the drunk-tank; which is where Jerry Jeff met him. Ah, Jerry Jeff wasn’t there on a research project, I... I mean the way I got that story, I, I may have that wrong, but the way I got that was he propositioned the right woman, at the right time, in the wrong place. And her husband, the bartender... ah, called the cops and they, ah, they took Jerry, ah, to the parish jail. And he, he and this guy just talked for three days in the cell about, you know about what he does.”] He said he danced for those at minstrel shows and county fairs Throughout the south He spoke with tears of fifteen years How his dog and him Traveled about His dog up and died You know his dog up and died After twenty years he still grieves He said, I dance now at every chance in honky-tonks For drinks and tips But most the time I spend behind these county bars ‘Cause I drinks a bit He shook his head And as he shook his head I heard someone ask please Mister Bojangles Mister Bojangles C’mon [Instrumental Interlude] I knew a man Bojangles And he danced for you, c’mon