Chords for Marty Stuart: The Story of Clarence White & The Parsons/White StringBender | Reverb Interview
Tempo:
132.9 bpm
Chords used:
D
A
G
E
Bm
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[D]
[Am] [D]
[A] This was [E] Clarence [D] White's original B string bender,
[Bm] created by him and Gene Parsons, [G] the drummer for the Birds.
[A] But I kind of found [D] this guitar [F#] by way of a record [A] player.
Clarence's brother Roland was a bluegrass musician,
[Bm] and Roland played with Lester Flatt.
[G] [Em] So I went to Nashville for the [D] weekend
as a guest [G] of Roland on Lester Flatt's [A] bus,
and Lester heard me playing in the back of the bus
just [D] going down the road, and he said,
you know, maybe you and Roland could do that on the show.
[A] And so we were at a bluegrass [D] festival for two days, four sets.
And he put me on all four sets, and the crowd liked it,
and I loved it, and I didn't want to go home.
And at the [G] end of the weekend, he offered me a [D] job.
So I wound up living at Roland's house,
and Roland had an incredible record collection.
And I would dig in his record collection,
and I listened to [G#] all the bluegrass records,
but I noticed there was a stack of records by the Birds.
And I asked him, how come you have so many Birds records?
He said, my brother [D] Clarence plays guitar in the band.
And so I think the first one I listened to
was maybe Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
[G]
[A] [Bm] [C]
[Bm] [G] It was really an [C] eye-opening experience
because I thought I was listening to a steel [G] guitar player,
and I'm a big steel guitar fan.
And he said, no, [C] that's my brother's guitar,
and he has a thing called a pull string on there.
[G] The drummer Gene Parsons put on this guitar,
and [A] it astounded me.
[D]
[E]
[D] [A] [D]
[A] [E] [Cm] [Bm] [A]
[Em] [D]
[E]
[D] [A]
[D] When I first saw some footage of [N] Clarence,
I saw him, he was so [G] cool, he was like James Dean cool, you know.
[D] He would barely move his shoulder.
[A] Most people play these guitars really hard, they snap [G] them, you know.
But [D] Clarence was like the ultimate of [G] cool.
[D] It was really beautiful [A] to watch him play.
It was like poetry, [D] you know.
[G] [D]
[A] [D] [G] This [A] sticker [D] wore out the original Nudie sticker
Nudie had on a [G] black [D] hat.
They would stick this at [A] the top of the coat hanger
[D] when you'd buy [G] a suit,
[A] or Nudie would put those on [D] dollar bills and hand to people.
And [E] Mangler, Phil Kaufman, [Am] Graham Parsons, old road manager,
[Dm] put the original [Am] one on.
[G] This is the original Frankfurt sticker.
[Bm] And some fan gave me a new one,
just in case this [A] one ever [B] goes away.
[Bm] That's from a Plymouth satellite.
[G] That's still the duct tape that Clarence had on there.
[D] That's still [A] Clarence's dirt.
I guess [D] it's the space age to get [A] hillbilly guitar.
[D] [E]
[D] [A]
Just a few months after I'd worked in [F#m] Lester's band,
[E] Roland and Clarence and their other brother Eric
decided to put their [G] old bluegrass band,
[A] The Kentucky Colonels, back together.
[E] And sadly, [Bm] they were at [A] a club one night,
and they had been jamming.
And [E] Clarence pulled his car [Bm] around,
as I understand it, in front of [A] the club.
[E] He put his amp in the car.
[A] And a drunk driver came around the corner
and ran over [E] Clarence.
And they killed him.
He was 29 [D] years old.
[A] [Am]
There [Em] went the life of somebody that I have no doubt in my [A] mind
could have been [G] revered in the same [D] pantheon as Jimi Hendrix
or any of [A] those other guys in that league.
Because I know Clarence had that much in him.
He was just getting started.
He'd scratched the surface.
So fast forward to [D] 1980.
I [Bm] had stayed in touch with Roland and his [A] family,
and Clarence's [D] wife, [E] Susie.
And we [A] became friends, you know, with her and their children.
And I'd just got a job with Johnny Cash.
And I was looking for a [E] telecaster.
And Susie had called me one night and said [C] that
she [A] was thinking about selling some of Clarence's things.
[Em] She just needed to raise a little bit of money.
[D] Would I be interested?
I said, whatever you want to sell, I'll buy.
[F#] And [A] she wanted to sell a 1954 Stratocaster
that they'd used as [Em] a parts guitar [A] for this guitar.
[C#] She had [G] a nudie suit [D] that [A] Clarence wore with the birds,
some birds paraphernalia.
And I said, [E] whatever, that's fine.
[G] And I said, is [A] the pull string still here?
She said, that's what you really want to see,
and I said, well, sure.
And it was in [Bm] a big [A] case in the attic.
And she [G] opened the lid, and here [D] this thing was.
It was missing [A] one string.
And I said, oh, wow, do you mind if I play it?
She [D] said, no.
And so she said, [A] that's the guitar you really want.
And I went, [D] I'd like to just hold it.
[G] And so I held [A] it, I played it,
and I couldn't [D] believe I was holding it.
And I put [A] a string on it and tried to [Em] figure out
how [D] he did that stuff, you know.
Later in the [A] afternoon, she says,
I'll sell [D] you that guitar, the pictures,
the birds [A] paraphernalia.
And I laid my checkbook on [D] the table, and I said,
whatever [G] number you put in within reason [A] is fine with me,
and if it's not [D] within reason,
my mom works at a bank, I'll [A] make a loan.
And she wrote $1 [D],450.
I went, Suzy, [A] the E string on this guitar is worth,
she [D] said, I know what the guitar is worth.
And [A] I begged her to take more money,
and she didn't want any more, she wouldn't have it.
[D] I think Clarence would want you to have [G] it.
I said, I only met him one time.
She says, [A] you'll take care of [D] it and honor it.
I went, well, that I will do.
[A] Oddly enough, when I first got it,
I could [D] hear the chatter from way out [A] there, you know,
why did he get it, he doesn't deserve it.
And I agreed [D] with him 100%.
I [A] don't know why I got it, and I know I don't deserve it,
because I don't even know how to play this [D] thing yet.
And so [Em] it took years of, you know,
[A] song after song [D] after song after song.
And [Am] I wrote a song called [A] Humminbird, B-Y-R-D.
[Em] And it [D] actually won a Grammy, and it was for [A] Clarence.
And when I walked off of that [F#m] Grammy, I went,
well, [D] maybe finally I own a piece [Em] of it.
[A] But just when I think I've got [D] something going on
on this guitar, I go listen to those Burge records,
[G] and I realize I don't have [D] anything going on on this guitar.
[G] [Dm] [G]
[D] [Em]
[Am] [D]
[A] This was [E] Clarence [D] White's original B string bender,
[Bm] created by him and Gene Parsons, [G] the drummer for the Birds.
[A] But I kind of found [D] this guitar [F#] by way of a record [A] player.
Clarence's brother Roland was a bluegrass musician,
[Bm] and Roland played with Lester Flatt.
[G] [Em] So I went to Nashville for the [D] weekend
as a guest [G] of Roland on Lester Flatt's [A] bus,
and Lester heard me playing in the back of the bus
just [D] going down the road, and he said,
you know, maybe you and Roland could do that on the show.
[A] And so we were at a bluegrass [D] festival for two days, four sets.
And he put me on all four sets, and the crowd liked it,
and I loved it, and I didn't want to go home.
And at the [G] end of the weekend, he offered me a [D] job.
So I wound up living at Roland's house,
and Roland had an incredible record collection.
And I would dig in his record collection,
and I listened to [G#] all the bluegrass records,
but I noticed there was a stack of records by the Birds.
And I asked him, how come you have so many Birds records?
He said, my brother [D] Clarence plays guitar in the band.
And so I think the first one I listened to
was maybe Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
[G]
[A] [Bm] [C]
[Bm] [G] It was really an [C] eye-opening experience
because I thought I was listening to a steel [G] guitar player,
and I'm a big steel guitar fan.
And he said, no, [C] that's my brother's guitar,
and he has a thing called a pull string on there.
[G] The drummer Gene Parsons put on this guitar,
and [A] it astounded me.
[D]
[E]
[D] [A] [D]
[A] [E] [Cm] [Bm] [A]
[Em] [D]
[E]
[D] [A]
[D] When I first saw some footage of [N] Clarence,
I saw him, he was so [G] cool, he was like James Dean cool, you know.
[D] He would barely move his shoulder.
[A] Most people play these guitars really hard, they snap [G] them, you know.
But [D] Clarence was like the ultimate of [G] cool.
[D] It was really beautiful [A] to watch him play.
It was like poetry, [D] you know.
[G] [D]
[A] [D] [G] This [A] sticker [D] wore out the original Nudie sticker
Nudie had on a [G] black [D] hat.
They would stick this at [A] the top of the coat hanger
[D] when you'd buy [G] a suit,
[A] or Nudie would put those on [D] dollar bills and hand to people.
And [E] Mangler, Phil Kaufman, [Am] Graham Parsons, old road manager,
[Dm] put the original [Am] one on.
[G] This is the original Frankfurt sticker.
[Bm] And some fan gave me a new one,
just in case this [A] one ever [B] goes away.
[Bm] That's from a Plymouth satellite.
[G] That's still the duct tape that Clarence had on there.
[D] That's still [A] Clarence's dirt.
I guess [D] it's the space age to get [A] hillbilly guitar.
[D] [E]
[D] [A]
Just a few months after I'd worked in [F#m] Lester's band,
[E] Roland and Clarence and their other brother Eric
decided to put their [G] old bluegrass band,
[A] The Kentucky Colonels, back together.
[E] And sadly, [Bm] they were at [A] a club one night,
and they had been jamming.
And [E] Clarence pulled his car [Bm] around,
as I understand it, in front of [A] the club.
[E] He put his amp in the car.
[A] And a drunk driver came around the corner
and ran over [E] Clarence.
And they killed him.
He was 29 [D] years old.
[A] [Am]
There [Em] went the life of somebody that I have no doubt in my [A] mind
could have been [G] revered in the same [D] pantheon as Jimi Hendrix
or any of [A] those other guys in that league.
Because I know Clarence had that much in him.
He was just getting started.
He'd scratched the surface.
So fast forward to [D] 1980.
I [Bm] had stayed in touch with Roland and his [A] family,
and Clarence's [D] wife, [E] Susie.
And we [A] became friends, you know, with her and their children.
And I'd just got a job with Johnny Cash.
And I was looking for a [E] telecaster.
And Susie had called me one night and said [C] that
she [A] was thinking about selling some of Clarence's things.
[Em] She just needed to raise a little bit of money.
[D] Would I be interested?
I said, whatever you want to sell, I'll buy.
[F#] And [A] she wanted to sell a 1954 Stratocaster
that they'd used as [Em] a parts guitar [A] for this guitar.
[C#] She had [G] a nudie suit [D] that [A] Clarence wore with the birds,
some birds paraphernalia.
And I said, [E] whatever, that's fine.
[G] And I said, is [A] the pull string still here?
She said, that's what you really want to see,
and I said, well, sure.
And it was in [Bm] a big [A] case in the attic.
And she [G] opened the lid, and here [D] this thing was.
It was missing [A] one string.
And I said, oh, wow, do you mind if I play it?
She [D] said, no.
And so she said, [A] that's the guitar you really want.
And I went, [D] I'd like to just hold it.
[G] And so I held [A] it, I played it,
and I couldn't [D] believe I was holding it.
And I put [A] a string on it and tried to [Em] figure out
how [D] he did that stuff, you know.
Later in the [A] afternoon, she says,
I'll sell [D] you that guitar, the pictures,
the birds [A] paraphernalia.
And I laid my checkbook on [D] the table, and I said,
whatever [G] number you put in within reason [A] is fine with me,
and if it's not [D] within reason,
my mom works at a bank, I'll [A] make a loan.
And she wrote $1 [D],450.
I went, Suzy, [A] the E string on this guitar is worth,
she [D] said, I know what the guitar is worth.
And [A] I begged her to take more money,
and she didn't want any more, she wouldn't have it.
[D] I think Clarence would want you to have [G] it.
I said, I only met him one time.
She says, [A] you'll take care of [D] it and honor it.
I went, well, that I will do.
[A] Oddly enough, when I first got it,
I could [D] hear the chatter from way out [A] there, you know,
why did he get it, he doesn't deserve it.
And I agreed [D] with him 100%.
I [A] don't know why I got it, and I know I don't deserve it,
because I don't even know how to play this [D] thing yet.
And so [Em] it took years of, you know,
[A] song after song [D] after song after song.
And [Am] I wrote a song called [A] Humminbird, B-Y-R-D.
[Em] And it [D] actually won a Grammy, and it was for [A] Clarence.
And when I walked off of that [F#m] Grammy, I went,
well, [D] maybe finally I own a piece [Em] of it.
[A] But just when I think I've got [D] something going on
on this guitar, I go listen to those Burge records,
[G] and I realize I don't have [D] anything going on on this guitar.
[G] [Dm] [G]
[D] [Em]
Key:
D
A
G
E
Bm
D
A
G
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ [D] _ _
[A] This was [E] Clarence [D] White's original B string bender,
[Bm] created by him and Gene Parsons, [G] the drummer for the Birds.
[A] But I kind of found [D] this guitar [F#] by way of a record [A] player.
Clarence's brother Roland was a bluegrass musician,
[Bm] and Roland played with Lester Flatt.
[G] _ [Em] So I went to Nashville for the [D] weekend
as a guest [G] of Roland on Lester Flatt's [A] bus,
and Lester heard me playing in the back of the bus
just [D] going down the road, and he said,
you know, maybe you and Roland could do that on the show.
[A] And so we were at a bluegrass [D] festival for two days, four sets.
And he put me on all four sets, and the crowd liked it,
and I loved it, and I didn't want to go home.
And at the [G] end of the weekend, he offered me a [D] job.
So I wound up living at Roland's house,
and Roland had an incredible record collection.
_ And I would dig in his record collection,
and I listened to [G#] all the bluegrass records,
but I noticed there was a stack of records by the Birds.
And I asked him, how come you have so many Birds records?
He said, my brother [D] Clarence plays guitar in the band.
And so I think the first one I listened to
was maybe Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
[G] _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ [Bm] _ [C] _
_ _ [Bm] _ [G] _ _ _ It was really an [C] eye-opening experience
because I thought I was listening to a steel [G] guitar player,
and I'm a big steel guitar fan.
And he said, no, [C] that's my brother's guitar,
and he has a thing called a pull string on there.
[G] The drummer Gene Parsons put on this guitar,
and [A] it astounded me. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ [A] _ _ _ [D] _
[A] _ [E] _ [Cm] _ [Bm] _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ [Em] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [A] _ _
_ [D] _ _ When I first saw some footage of [N] Clarence,
I saw him, he was so [G] cool, he was like James Dean cool, you know.
[D] He would barely move his shoulder.
[A] Most people play these guitars really hard, they snap [G] them, you know.
But [D] Clarence was like the ultimate of [G] cool.
_ _ _ [D] It was really beautiful [A] to watch him play.
It was like poetry, [D] you know. _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ [A] _ _ [D] _ [G] This [A] sticker [D] wore out the original Nudie sticker
Nudie had on a [G] black [D] hat.
They would stick this at [A] the top of the coat hanger
[D] when you'd buy [G] a suit,
[A] or Nudie would put those on [D] dollar bills and hand to people.
And [E] Mangler, Phil Kaufman, [Am] Graham Parsons, old road manager,
[Dm] put the original [Am] one on.
_ [G] This is the original Frankfurt sticker.
[Bm] And some fan gave me a new one,
just in case this [A] one ever [B] goes away. _
[Bm] That's from a Plymouth satellite.
[G] That's still the duct tape that Clarence had on there.
[D] That's still [A] Clarence's dirt.
I guess [D] it's the space age to get [A] hillbilly guitar. _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ Just a few months after I'd worked in [F#m] Lester's band,
[E] Roland and Clarence and their other brother Eric
decided to put their [G] old bluegrass band,
[A] The Kentucky Colonels, back together.
[E] And sadly, _ [Bm] they were at [A] a club one night,
and they had been jamming.
And [E] Clarence pulled his car [Bm] around,
as I understand it, in front of [A] the club.
[E] He put his amp in the car.
[A] And a drunk driver came around the corner
and ran over [E] Clarence.
And they killed him.
He was 29 [D] years old. _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ There [Em] went the life of somebody that I have no doubt in my [A] mind
could have been [G] revered in the same [D] pantheon as Jimi Hendrix
or any of [A] those other guys in that league.
Because I know Clarence had that much in him.
He was just getting started.
He'd scratched the surface.
So fast forward to [D] 1980.
_ I [Bm] had stayed in touch with Roland and his [A] family,
and Clarence's [D] wife, [E] Susie.
And we [A] became friends, you know, with her and their children.
And I'd just got a job with Johnny Cash.
And I was looking for a [E] telecaster.
And Susie had called me one night and said [C] that
she [A] was thinking about selling some of Clarence's things.
[Em] She just needed to raise a little bit of money.
[D] Would I be interested?
I said, whatever you want to sell, I'll buy.
[F#] And [A] she wanted to sell a 1954 Stratocaster
that they'd used as [Em] a parts guitar _ [A] for this guitar.
[C#] _ She had [G] a nudie suit [D] that [A] Clarence wore with the birds,
some birds paraphernalia.
_ And I said, [E] whatever, that's fine.
[G] And I said, is [A] the pull string still here?
She said, that's what you really want to see,
and I said, well, sure.
And it was in [Bm] a _ big [A] case in the attic.
And she [G] opened the lid, and here [D] this thing was.
It was missing [A] one string.
And I said, oh, wow, do you mind if I play it?
She [D] said, no.
And so she said, [A] that's the guitar you really want.
And I went, _ _ [D] I'd like to just hold it.
_ [G] And so I held [A] it, I played it,
and I couldn't [D] believe I was holding it.
And I put [A] a string on it and tried to [Em] figure out
how [D] he did that stuff, you know.
Later in the [A] afternoon, she says,
I'll sell [D] you that guitar, the pictures,
the birds [A] paraphernalia.
And I laid my checkbook on [D] the table, and I said,
whatever [G] number you put in within reason [A] is fine with me,
and if it's not [D] within reason,
my mom works at a bank, I'll [A] make a loan. _
And she wrote $1 _ _ [D],450.
I went, Suzy, [A] the E string on this guitar is worth,
she [D] said, I know what the guitar is worth.
And [A] I begged her to take more money,
and she didn't want any more, she wouldn't have it.
[D] I think Clarence would want you to have [G] it.
I said, I only met him one time.
She says, [A] you'll take care of [D] it and honor it.
I went, well, that I will do.
[A] Oddly enough, when I first got it,
I could [D] hear the chatter from way out [A] there, you know,
why did he get it, he doesn't deserve it.
And I agreed [D] with him 100%.
I [A] don't know why I got it, and I know I don't deserve it,
because I don't even know how to play this [D] thing yet.
And so [Em] it took years of, you know,
[A] song after song [D] after song after song.
And [Am] I wrote a song called [A] Humminbird, B-Y-R-D.
[Em] And it [D] actually won a Grammy, and it was for [A] Clarence.
And when I walked off of that [F#m] Grammy, I went,
well, [D] maybe finally I own a piece [Em] of it.
[A] But just when I think I've got [D] something going on
on this guitar, I go listen to those Burge records,
[G] and I realize I don't have [D] anything going on on this guitar. _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ [D] _ _
[A] This was [E] Clarence [D] White's original B string bender,
[Bm] created by him and Gene Parsons, [G] the drummer for the Birds.
[A] But I kind of found [D] this guitar [F#] by way of a record [A] player.
Clarence's brother Roland was a bluegrass musician,
[Bm] and Roland played with Lester Flatt.
[G] _ [Em] So I went to Nashville for the [D] weekend
as a guest [G] of Roland on Lester Flatt's [A] bus,
and Lester heard me playing in the back of the bus
just [D] going down the road, and he said,
you know, maybe you and Roland could do that on the show.
[A] And so we were at a bluegrass [D] festival for two days, four sets.
And he put me on all four sets, and the crowd liked it,
and I loved it, and I didn't want to go home.
And at the [G] end of the weekend, he offered me a [D] job.
So I wound up living at Roland's house,
and Roland had an incredible record collection.
_ And I would dig in his record collection,
and I listened to [G#] all the bluegrass records,
but I noticed there was a stack of records by the Birds.
And I asked him, how come you have so many Birds records?
He said, my brother [D] Clarence plays guitar in the band.
And so I think the first one I listened to
was maybe Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
[G] _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ [Bm] _ [C] _
_ _ [Bm] _ [G] _ _ _ It was really an [C] eye-opening experience
because I thought I was listening to a steel [G] guitar player,
and I'm a big steel guitar fan.
And he said, no, [C] that's my brother's guitar,
and he has a thing called a pull string on there.
[G] The drummer Gene Parsons put on this guitar,
and [A] it astounded me. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ [A] _ _ _ [D] _
[A] _ [E] _ [Cm] _ [Bm] _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ [Em] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [A] _ _
_ [D] _ _ When I first saw some footage of [N] Clarence,
I saw him, he was so [G] cool, he was like James Dean cool, you know.
[D] He would barely move his shoulder.
[A] Most people play these guitars really hard, they snap [G] them, you know.
But [D] Clarence was like the ultimate of [G] cool.
_ _ _ [D] It was really beautiful [A] to watch him play.
It was like poetry, [D] you know. _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ [A] _ _ [D] _ [G] This [A] sticker [D] wore out the original Nudie sticker
Nudie had on a [G] black [D] hat.
They would stick this at [A] the top of the coat hanger
[D] when you'd buy [G] a suit,
[A] or Nudie would put those on [D] dollar bills and hand to people.
And [E] Mangler, Phil Kaufman, [Am] Graham Parsons, old road manager,
[Dm] put the original [Am] one on.
_ [G] This is the original Frankfurt sticker.
[Bm] And some fan gave me a new one,
just in case this [A] one ever [B] goes away. _
[Bm] That's from a Plymouth satellite.
[G] That's still the duct tape that Clarence had on there.
[D] That's still [A] Clarence's dirt.
I guess [D] it's the space age to get [A] hillbilly guitar. _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ Just a few months after I'd worked in [F#m] Lester's band,
[E] Roland and Clarence and their other brother Eric
decided to put their [G] old bluegrass band,
[A] The Kentucky Colonels, back together.
[E] And sadly, _ [Bm] they were at [A] a club one night,
and they had been jamming.
And [E] Clarence pulled his car [Bm] around,
as I understand it, in front of [A] the club.
[E] He put his amp in the car.
[A] And a drunk driver came around the corner
and ran over [E] Clarence.
And they killed him.
He was 29 [D] years old. _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ There [Em] went the life of somebody that I have no doubt in my [A] mind
could have been [G] revered in the same [D] pantheon as Jimi Hendrix
or any of [A] those other guys in that league.
Because I know Clarence had that much in him.
He was just getting started.
He'd scratched the surface.
So fast forward to [D] 1980.
_ I [Bm] had stayed in touch with Roland and his [A] family,
and Clarence's [D] wife, [E] Susie.
And we [A] became friends, you know, with her and their children.
And I'd just got a job with Johnny Cash.
And I was looking for a [E] telecaster.
And Susie had called me one night and said [C] that
she [A] was thinking about selling some of Clarence's things.
[Em] She just needed to raise a little bit of money.
[D] Would I be interested?
I said, whatever you want to sell, I'll buy.
[F#] And [A] she wanted to sell a 1954 Stratocaster
that they'd used as [Em] a parts guitar _ [A] for this guitar.
[C#] _ She had [G] a nudie suit [D] that [A] Clarence wore with the birds,
some birds paraphernalia.
_ And I said, [E] whatever, that's fine.
[G] And I said, is [A] the pull string still here?
She said, that's what you really want to see,
and I said, well, sure.
And it was in [Bm] a _ big [A] case in the attic.
And she [G] opened the lid, and here [D] this thing was.
It was missing [A] one string.
And I said, oh, wow, do you mind if I play it?
She [D] said, no.
And so she said, [A] that's the guitar you really want.
And I went, _ _ [D] I'd like to just hold it.
_ [G] And so I held [A] it, I played it,
and I couldn't [D] believe I was holding it.
And I put [A] a string on it and tried to [Em] figure out
how [D] he did that stuff, you know.
Later in the [A] afternoon, she says,
I'll sell [D] you that guitar, the pictures,
the birds [A] paraphernalia.
And I laid my checkbook on [D] the table, and I said,
whatever [G] number you put in within reason [A] is fine with me,
and if it's not [D] within reason,
my mom works at a bank, I'll [A] make a loan. _
And she wrote $1 _ _ [D],450.
I went, Suzy, [A] the E string on this guitar is worth,
she [D] said, I know what the guitar is worth.
And [A] I begged her to take more money,
and she didn't want any more, she wouldn't have it.
[D] I think Clarence would want you to have [G] it.
I said, I only met him one time.
She says, [A] you'll take care of [D] it and honor it.
I went, well, that I will do.
[A] Oddly enough, when I first got it,
I could [D] hear the chatter from way out [A] there, you know,
why did he get it, he doesn't deserve it.
And I agreed [D] with him 100%.
I [A] don't know why I got it, and I know I don't deserve it,
because I don't even know how to play this [D] thing yet.
And so [Em] it took years of, you know,
[A] song after song [D] after song after song.
And [Am] I wrote a song called [A] Humminbird, B-Y-R-D.
[Em] And it [D] actually won a Grammy, and it was for [A] Clarence.
And when I walked off of that [F#m] Grammy, I went,
well, [D] maybe finally I own a piece [Em] of it.
[A] But just when I think I've got [D] something going on
on this guitar, I go listen to those Burge records,
[G] and I realize I don't have [D] anything going on on this guitar. _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _