Chords for Barry Spiro plays Mr. Bojangles

[G] And we are going to move right on to our very, very special person.
We haven't seen it in quite a while.
Let's hear it for the one and the only Barry [C] Spiro, everybody.
Hello, [G] Barry.
Hey, _ [Em] Barry.
Hello, everybody.
[Bm] Hello, everybody.
Welcome to Barry's story.
[F] Branson Bofatt donated one minute of his time, Senator from Southern Massachusetts.
[Gm] Thank you, Branson.
So a little [D#m] biography.
I think [N] 10 of you know me well, meaning _ 20 do not.
So I am totally blind.
20 years ago, [F#] I suffered my first bout with multiple sclerosis.
[E] A sclerotic lesion is a break in a vessel.
[B] Same thing as a stroke, the effect.
So my optic nerve went, and then the other optic [N] nerve went over a year.
_ And then [Gm] more things sclerosed.
And then I spent a year [F] in the Carroll Center for the Blind, [B] learning how to be a blind person.
And then I asked my psychiatrist, what do I do [G#] now?
And he said, get back to work.
So I went back to my dental office.
[F#] I've been a dentist for over 40 years.
Ten years in Manhattan on Broadway, Upper West Side, where [Fm] Morgan Freeman was my most famous [F#] patient.
And then 30 years in Boston, where I was on the staff of Faulkner Hospital for 20 years.
So my psychiatrist said, when I said, what do I do?
He said, go back.
So for 12 years, I ran my dental office as a blind dentist, hiring dentists, dental assistants,
and hygienists.
It's a great story.
I'm a motivator.
I'm a motivational person.
I handle [C] any problem.
_ [N] And that's my story.
So what brought me here tonight, this is over 20 years, this is going on.
[B] Seven months ago, I had a heart attack.
And I didn't know I had a heart attack.
It wasn't one of those movies where you clutch your chest and you fall on the [A#] floor.
[D#m] I didn't even know I had a heart attack.
[Fm] I had trouble breathing.
And [F#] they said I had a heart attack.
They went, they took my heart, opened my heart up and gave me four bypass artery _ replacements.
[Fm] [A#] And so I was away for 50 days in all the institutions, [F] emergency rooms, operating rooms, [Fm] step down,
step down, step down, to try to get me back.
I'm almost back, seven [F#] months ago.
So because I had a heart attack, it makes me realize I have [G] no, as everybody here knows,
[C] they know people who had heart attacks and they never woke up again.
So it's a [F#] miracle that I had a heart attack and here I am.
[F] So I think about Phil Oakes.
He wrote this song, When I'm Gone, and then he passed away.
And Dave Carter [B] wrote this song, When I Go, and then he passed away.
So [F#] I'm not planning to pass away until I'm 110. _
And in any event, that's the first part of my bio. _ _
_ Second part, I'm a very, very lucky person.
I have won the lottery five times.
My first win was when Marjorie Lera decided to marry me.
Eighteen years ago we married and she's the most wonderful person and dedicated person
to me and I, similarly, to her.
So that was my first lottery win.
Then I had four more lottery wins.
My son Wes, my daughter whose name I can't tell you, my son Nick, and my other son whose
name I can't tell you.
And they're all super [A#] achievers [F#] and that's the end of that story.
So with that in mind, I'm playing a song.
I want it to be funny but I won't be funny.
I'm playing a song.
Here you [C] go.
_ _ [Em] _ _
[A] _ _ [G] _ [F] _ _ _
[A] _ [G] _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [A] _ _ _ [C] _ [F] _
_ _ [A] _ [G] _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] [E] You know I knew a man, [A] Bojangles and he danced [Am] for you.
_ [F] _
[A] Worn [G] out shoes, [E]
silver hair, ragged [A] shirt and [G] baggy pants.
[F]
He did the old [G] soft shoe.
_ [F]
He jumped [G] so high, [F] jumped so high and he [G] lightly touched down. _
_ _ [F] _ _ [G] Mr.
Bojangles, [F] _ _ [G] Mr.
Bojangles, [F] _ _ [G] Mr.
Bojangles, [C] fun and [G] dance.
[A] _
_ _ [C] _ _ [Em] _ [A] _
_ [C] I met him in [G] a cell in [A] New Orleans I was.
[F] _ I was [G] down and out.
[C] He looked at me [G] to be [A] the eyes of [G] age.
[F] As he spoke [G] right out, _ [F] he [E] talked [G] of life, talked [F] of life, slapped his [G] leg and step.
_ _ _ _ [C]
[Em] Said the name [A] Bojangles and he danced [G] a lick.
[F] _
_ [G] Across the cell, while he [C] grabbed his pants [Em] for a better [A] stance and he jumped [G] so [F] high.
He [G] clicked his heels.
_ [F] _
He let go [G] a laugh, let go [F] a laugh, shook [A] back his [G] clothes all around. _ _
_ _ [F] _ Mr.
[G] _
Bojangles, [F] _ Mr.
[G] _
_ [F] Bojangles, Mr.
[G] _
Bojangles, [C] fun and [Em] dance.
[A] _
_ [G] _ [C] _ _ [Em] _ [A] _
_ [Em] He said I'd dance for those in [A] minstrel shows and [G] county [F] fairs.
[G] Across the south, [C] he spoke with [G] tears of [A] 15 years [G] how his [F] dog and he [G] traveled about.
[F] _ His dog [G] up and died, [F] up and died.
After 20 [G] years he still breathes.
_ _ [C] Now I dance [G] every [A] chance in his [G] honky [F]
-tonk.
[G] For tricks and tips, _ [C]
most of [B] the time I [A] spend behind his [G] county [F] doors.
As I [G] trace a bit, _ [F] _
he [G] let go a laugh, let [F] go a laugh, shook his legs and heard [A] someone [G] say,
_ _ _ _ _ [F] _
[G] Mr.
Bojangles, _ [F] _
[G] Mr.
_ Bojangles, [F] _
[G] Mr.
Bojangles, [A] fun [C] and [E] dance.
_ [A] _ _ [C] _ _
[G] _ _ [A] _ [G] _ _ [C] _
[E] _ _ _ [G] _ [F] _
Come [G] on out and dance.
_ [C] _
_ _ _ [N] Thank you.
_ _ Ah, Barry Spire, I want to say.
Hey, Barry.
_ _ Great to have you back in the house, my friend, and [Em] please come back.
Keep coming back whenever you can.
[N] Well, thank you very much for having me.
We love you.
You know that and we always will.
_ And thank you, Marjorie and your aide, I'm forgetting her name, but.
_ _ Binnie.
Binnie?
Oh, well, thank you all.
It's just so wonderful to see you back.
[F#] _ Nice to be back. Coming