Guitar Rag Songtext
von John Pearson

When I was young I have a memory
I hear the music coming through to me
And it sound like the Guitar Rag

I hear the banjo and the mandolin
The piano, fiddle and accordion
And that sound like the Guitar Rag
All the tunes my family used to play
I hear the rhythm just as plain as day
So I put it in the Guitar Rag
Those dance band days with the trumpet and sax
And the big flashy cars and the shoes to match
In the days of the Guitar Rag

The home town players could really Rag without a doubt
They had people swingin′ swayin'
And I′d watch their feet as they shuffled about


Then I heard it on the radio
VOA Memphis music show
You know they'd play all kinds of Rag
There was Bix and Louie with the Jelly Roll
Muggsy Spanier and Mezz Mezz Roll
They swung me to the Guitar Rag

Babe and Johnny Dodds, King Oliver too
They could raise the roof when they really blew
The giants of the blues played jazz
And then I heard Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson swing
Them blue guitars playing with the strings
That's the birth of the Guitar Rag

The old time players could really Rag without a doubt
They had people swingin′ swayin′
When the whole band punched it out

Blind Lemon Jefferson and Willie McTell
Big Bill Broonzy-o played so well
They had a thing for the Guitar Rag
When Blind Blake just begin to play
You know the whole damn town took a holiday
Just to listen to his favorite Rag
Elizabeth Cotton, Simon Kirk McGee
Don't forget Skip James playin′ Drunken Spree
And that special Bentonia Rag


Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell
Huddie Ledbetter got me in his spell
When he played the Twelve String Rag

The old time players could really Rag without a doubt
They had people swingin' swayin′
While their fingers picked it out

Rev. Gary got it on his knee
His Candy Man sounds sweet to me
All the joy in his Guitar Rag
Mississippi John Hurt piled it on your floor
Wherever he played they had to close the door
Just to listen to his gentle Rag

Buddy Boy Hawkins in an awful fix
And the Dallas String Band blowin' jugs for kicks
All that good time string band jazz
Lightnin′ Hopkins, the Juke Joint Jive
He got a sound to make you feel alive
I keep a-rockin' to his Guitar Rag

The old time players could really Rag without a doubt
They had people swingin' swayin′
While their fingers picked it out

Uncle Dave Macon, the Dixie Dew Drop
Papa Charlie Jackson and Barbecue Bob
Hear ′em pickin' out an old time Rag
Doc and Merle Watson playin′ Mountain Dew
The Delmore Brothers, Deep River Blue
They put the boogie in the Guitar Rag

Memphis Minnie, Kansas City Joe
The Beale Street Sheiks bootin' Kokomo
He just slide the Guitar Rag

Funny Paper Smith, Black Bottom, MacPhail
Whiskey Man Blues, don′t you hear 'em all wail
That′s the sound of the Guitar Rag