Chords for SPORTING LIFE BLUES by Happy Traum

_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[C#m] _ [Bm] _ [A] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ [G#m] _ _ [Em] _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ [E] _ _ _
[F#] _ [Am] _ _ [E] _ [B] _ _ You [E] know I'm tired _ of running [D] around _ _ [A] I think I'll get married, _ think [Am] I'll settle _ down
This old [E] night [C#] light, oh [F#] this old sport [B] light [E] is killing [Bm] me
[F#] I [Am] _ [E] _
_ [B] _ _ [E] got a letter _ from my home [Bm] _ _ Most [F#m] of my friends, they're [Am] getting gone
_ It'll [E] make you wonder, [G#m] _ _
[F#] friends, it'll make you [B] worry about [E] days to come
[A#] _ [Am] _ _ [E] _ [A#] _ [B] _
Cause [E] I've been a gambler, _ I've been a cheater too _ _ Now [F#m] it's come [A] my time [Am] to lose
_ _ This [E] old night light, [C] _ [C#] _ [F#] oh it's a mean [A#]
[B] light, [E] it's killing _ [A#] me
[A] _
[E] _ _ [A#] _ [B] _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
[Am] _ [A] _ [Bm] _ _ [A] _ _ [Am] _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F#m] _ [C#] _ _ _ [E] _ [G] _
[C#m] _ _ [C] _ [E] _ [A] _ [B] _ My [E] mother used to say to me, _ so [A] young and foolish I could not see
_ [Am] She'd _ [E] say [G#] son, [C#] _ [F#] oh son, you better [B] change [E] those dirty [G#m] _ [A#] ways
_ [Gm] _ _
[B] _ Now [Em] I'm going _ [G#m] to [E] change my ways _ _ [A] I'm getting older _ each [Am] and every day _
[E] Cause this old night light, [C#] _ _ [F#] oh this old sport [B] light, [E] it's killing _ _ [A#] _
[A] _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C#] _ _ _ [G] _ [F#] _ [B] _ _
[E] _ _ _ [Em] _ [C#m] me
[E] _ _
_ [C#m] _ _ [C] _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _ _
_ Oh thank you! _ _ _ _
_ _ From _ _ _ the CD I Walked the Road Again, brand new record, Sportin' Live Blues, Happy Tron, it's nice to have you on Wood Songs, finally!
Well thank you Michael, it's great to be here
[C] It's been [A] a long wait and I'm glad that you're finally [C#]
visiting us, you [G#] played that song [G] taught to you by your guitar teacher way back when
That's right, I took lessons with Brownie McGee back in around 1958-59 and that was one of the songs he taught [A] me
Well, did you know at the time that he was Brownie McGee?
I did, [N] I did, I bought one of his records, it was a little 10 inch Folkways LP _
And I just fell in love with some of the songs on there and I heard he lived in New York and I actually looked him up in the phone book
And there he was, so I called him up and I said I'd love to take some guitar lessons with you and he said come on down
And for about two years on and off I went to his house down in East Harlem, New York and had a great time
What a great teacher, of course Brownie McGee was a compatriot of Woody Guthrie That's right
And Lead Belly and so many others, so what a great start on your own music line
Yeah, he used to be sitting around playing with me, trading licks and stuff, showing me stuff
And Sonny Terry would show up and play a little harmonica and it was a great time
You ended up not too long after that, I guess you've only been playing four years at the time
You hooked up with a young Bob Dylan, did some work with Bob?
Yeah, I was in a group called the New World Singers and we made a record for Folkways called Broadsides
And Bob Dylan was on there, he was called Blind Boy Grunt on that record That's right
For contractual purposes
He didn't want anybody to know it was him doing it
And actually the mother of one of your guests, Bernice Reagan, was on that
Part of the Freedom Singers
Yeah, as the Freedom Singers, she was on that same record
_ _ You recorded, if I [A] may misstate this, I [G] know you'll correct me if I'm wrong
But you recorded the first [N] cut of Blown in the Wind Right
You were the first person to cut that song before Peter, Paul and Mary got hold of it That's right
Unfortunately, we didn't have the big hit
You didn't have the hit
But we were first _
So in your career, being around people like Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger
_ And this is all part of your music scene
So how did all that affect you as a young player?
It must have been exciting
Well, it was very exciting
It was exciting being in New York in Greenwich Village
Back in the late 50s around the Washington Square folk revival scene
And then the whole singer-songwriter movement taking place
At the Gaslight Cafe in Grady's Folk City
And all those historic places in New York
And Tom Paxson, Bob Dylan and Phil Oakes
And Peter, Paul and Mary, all those people around
And Bob Dylan, of course, was just a huge influence on all of us
Now you make your home now in Woodstock, [Fm] New York Right
Now did [Bm] you move to Woodstock before it became [N] Woodstock?
Yeah
You were there prior to
Yeah, I was there
Well, we moved there in about 1966 and 69 was the big festival
_ So we were there