4 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Furry Sings The Blues Lyrics
Old Beale Street is coming down
Sweeties' Snack Bar, boarded up now
And Egles The Tailor and the Shine Boy's gone
Faded out with ragtime blues
Handy's cast in bronze
And he's standing in a little park
With a trumpet in his hand
Like he's listening back to the good old bands
And the click of high heeled shoes
Old Furry sings the blues
Propped up in his bed
With his dentures and his leg removed
And Ginny's there
For her kindness and Furry's beer
She's the old man's angel overseer
Pawn shops glitter like gold tooth caps
In the grey decay
They chew the last few dollars off
Old Beale Street's carcass
Carrion and mercy
Blue and silver sparkling drums
Cheap guitars, eye shades and guns
Aimed at the hot blood of being no one
Down and out in Memphis Tennessee
Old Furry sings the blues
You bring him smoke and drink and he'll play for you
lt's mostly muttering now and sideshow spiel
But there was one song he played
I could really feel
There's a double bill murder at the New Daisy
The old girl's silent across the street
She's silent - waiting for the wrecker's beat
Silent - staring ar her stolen name
Diamond boys and satin dolls
Bourbon laughter- ghosts - history falls
To parking lots and shopping malls
As they tear down old Beale Street
Old Furry sings the blues
He points a bony finger at you and
"I don't like you"
Everybody laughs as if it's the old man's standard joke
But it's true
We're only welcome for our drink and smoke
W.C. Handy I'm rich and I'm fay
And I'm not familiar with what you played
But I get such strong impressions of your hey day
Looking up and down old Beale Street
Ghosts of the darktown society
Come right out of the bricks at me
Like it's a Saturday night
They're in their finery
Dancing it up and making deals
Furry sings the blues
Why should I expect that old guy to give it to me true
Fallen to hard luck
And time and other thieves
While our limo is shining on his shanty street
Old Furry sings the blues
Sweeties' Snack Bar, boarded up now
And Egles The Tailor and the Shine Boy's gone
Faded out with ragtime blues
Handy's cast in bronze
And he's standing in a little park
With a trumpet in his hand
Like he's listening back to the good old bands
And the click of high heeled shoes
Old Furry sings the blues
Propped up in his bed
With his dentures and his leg removed
And Ginny's there
For her kindness and Furry's beer
She's the old man's angel overseer
In the grey decay
They chew the last few dollars off
Old Beale Street's carcass
Carrion and mercy
Blue and silver sparkling drums
Cheap guitars, eye shades and guns
Aimed at the hot blood of being no one
Down and out in Memphis Tennessee
Old Furry sings the blues
You bring him smoke and drink and he'll play for you
lt's mostly muttering now and sideshow spiel
But there was one song he played
I could really feel
The old girl's silent across the street
She's silent - waiting for the wrecker's beat
Silent - staring ar her stolen name
Diamond boys and satin dolls
Bourbon laughter- ghosts - history falls
To parking lots and shopping malls
As they tear down old Beale Street
Old Furry sings the blues
He points a bony finger at you and
"I don't like you"
Everybody laughs as if it's the old man's standard joke
But it's true
We're only welcome for our drink and smoke
And I'm not familiar with what you played
But I get such strong impressions of your hey day
Looking up and down old Beale Street
Ghosts of the darktown society
Come right out of the bricks at me
Like it's a Saturday night
They're in their finery
Dancing it up and making deals
Furry sings the blues
Why should I expect that old guy to give it to me true
Fallen to hard luck
And time and other thieves
While our limo is shining on his shanty street
Old Furry sings the blues
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
No comments yet?
Incredible song, I must say. Like all others on this album.
shine on me miss liberty.... for a long time i couldn't l listen to this album, it made me too emotional, i would get wet eyes. i lived on staten island for a while. big boat chugging back with a belly full of cars... furry sings the blues is insane, just one of the most insanely perfect story telling songs ever sung. i am right there with her visiting this man, watching main streets disappear across america along with these magic men that lived on them.
shine on me miss liberty.... for a long time i couldn't l listen to this album, it made me too emotional, i would get wet eyes. i lived on staten island for a while. big boat chugging back with a belly full of cars... furry sings the blues is insane, just one of the most insanely perfect story telling songs ever sung. i am right there with her visiting this man, watching main streets disappear across america along with these magic men that lived on them.
I can relate 100% with the wet eyes thing. I still don't listen to the songs on this album (esp. this one and Song For Sharon) on my music player in a public place for fear of embarrassment- I'm totally serious.
I can relate 100% with the wet eyes thing. I still don't listen to the songs on this album (esp. this one and Song For Sharon) on my music player in a public place for fear of embarrassment- I'm totally serious.
I love this song; it so neatly parallels the rundown state of the old parts of Memphis with the fate of so many of its early performers.
The pictures created by lines like; Pawn shops glitter like gold tooth caps In the grey decay
are so true. I remember the same in my own city when I was a child. Joni has a gift for capturing images like this.
The song is presumably about Furry Lewis - a blues musician from Memphis who recorded int he 1920's, and had a carrer revival in the 1960's. According to Wiki, he took a day job as a Memphis street sweeper for 44 years, in the 1970's opened for the Rolling Stones, and hated this song thinking that he should have received royalties for it.
It's certainly about Furry Lewis. Rick Danko of the band tells a story about sitting around at Furry's place jamming with him and the surrealistic scene it was. I suspect it was the same party Joni is singing about.
It's certainly about Furry Lewis. Rick Danko of the band tells a story about sitting around at Furry's place jamming with him and the surrealistic scene it was. I suspect it was the same party Joni is singing about.
"When Mitchell released her Hejira album in 1976 with the song Furry Sings the Blues, he hated the song and “that woman,” as he would put it that sang it. From what I understand, the song was inspired by this meeting, but mostly it was a commentary of the existing landscape of Beale Street which was getting very run down by that time in the seventies. The song paints a bleak picture of the current state of affairs on Beale Street as she recalled when she was there. The song was more about that mood than anything else. She only mentioned his name and a few aspects, but the song was never totally about him… However, many people close to Furry would disagree. Furry thought he should have received some kind of a royalty for singing about him." https://thebluesblogger.com/71/beale-street-furry-sings-the-blues