| I posted this note in SOAPBOX, but felt it appropriate to share it
here.
Bill Slater
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<<< PEAR::DUA1:[NOTES$LIBRARY]SOAPBOX.NOTE;1 >>>
-< SOAPBOX: Not So Humble Opinions! >-
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Note 901.23 Memphis, TN - Area Code 901 23 of 23
TYFYS::SLATER "As we see ourselves, so do we becom" 101 lines 25-JUL-1992 19:44
-< Bluesman Furry Lewis >-
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Most people don't realize this, but Memphis is regarded as the
birthplace of the Blues. There on Beale Street, near the Mississippi
River bluff, the blues became refined and acceptable. Later, they
migrated north to Chicago and south to New Orleans. While I lived in
Memphis, I became personally acquainted with a real honest to God
Bluesman.
When I was in college ('73 - '77), I used to hang out with
country-blues guitarist bluesman Walter E. "Furry" Lewis. I used to go
to his shows and occasionally play washboard with him. (He even called
me "Washboard" because he could never remember my name.) Besides being a
"natural bluesman" and a musical genious in his own right, one of
Furry's claims to fame was that he had played with fellow Memphian W.C.
Handy, who is widely considered as the "Father of the Blues".
Furry was famous for his ability to sing and play acoustic guitar with
a bottleneck slide. Joni Mitchell came and interviewed him, then wrote
a song later about him called, "Furry Sings the Blues". She recorded
that in 1977 or 1978, and it made Furry mad because he felt that he
should have been entitled to some kind of payment or royalties for that
song. In 1976, when the Rolling Stones toured in Memphis, they had Furry
do the opening set before a crowd of 53,000 people.
Overseas, Furry was an even bigger legend than in the States. One in
Sweden, he played before a crowd of 70,000 people. They had an advance
hype build up for him and everyone was wearing buttons that said,
"Furry's Coming". He gave me one of the extras that he had.
If you ever heard the Lynyrd Skynyrd song, "The Ballad Of Curtis Loew",
the person they describe in that song was very much what Furry was
like. I used to visit Furry in his modest duplex at 811 Mosby Street
in Memphis (in the ghetto). I would bring him a fifth of Jack Daniels
Black Label, and he'd play for three hours or so from his bed. Furry
was always in bed when you'd go visit him at home.
Furry died in 1979, after a fire in his duplex and the sudden
displacement that followed during winter of 78-79. It caused him to catch
pneumonia. He was about 88 when he died.
Below are a few lines from Furry's songs:
Casey Jones:
I got it written in the back of my shirt,
I'm a natural-born East-Man I don't have to work.
I Will Turn Your Money Green:
If you follow me baby, I will turn your money green
I'll show you more money, than Rockefeller ever seen.
Judge Boushee Blues
Good Morning, Judge.
What will be my fine?
Good Morning, Judge.
What will be my fine?
He said I'm glad I got to see you,
That'll be a dollar forty-nine.
Lay My Burden Down
No more crying, or tribulation
When I lay my burden down
All my sorrows, will be over,
When I lay my burden down,
I'm going home to be with my Jesus,
When I lay my burden down.
In a simple grave in a black folks cemetary in Memphis, lies the worn
out body of a simple, but famous bluesman. His epitaph reads:
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Walter "Furry" Lewis
1892 - 1979
Bluesman
"When I Lay My Burden Down..."
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I loved the man. He was walking, talking, singing, smiling, jive
talking American musical history. Larger than life, and there for the
taking and absorbing. Sometimes, I look back on my college days, and I
think Furry was the best thing in my life during those years...
God rest his musical soul. I hope he's up there in Heaven where he'll
never have to hock his guitar, or break any guitar strings again.
Wild Bill
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