Spirit of the Delta

[good4somethingbum]

The Spirit of the Delta ©2018 Robert George BMI

Well, that Greyhound rolled at midnight
Like a haunted funeral hack
And its passenger was wary, as it passed a cemetery
Near an old sharecropper’s shack
Then it dropped him at a crossroads
By a tiny Mississippi town
And his fate was on the level, cos his first deal with the devil
Was the last fair deal gone down

And the spirit of the Delta
Held a dusty old guitar
And he walked to town in search of
Where the canned heat rounders are

Leroy showed up at the fish fry
With the best six-string he could afford
But ev’ry swig of sterno, tasted like a damned inferno
And he fumbled ev’ry chord
That no good doney he was sweet on
Wouldn’t even peck him on the cheek
Then Leroy got to thinkin’, he could poison what she’s drinkin’
Like he’d done that bluesman just last week

And the spirit of the Delta
Moved like shadow, smoke and fog
And he watched as mounds of red dirt
Rose up as a demon dog

Well, a mail train whistled in the distance
As Leroy was consumed by jealousy
Cos they say ole Charley Patton, played from Memphis to Manhattan
Even though he was half Cherokee
Leroy’d surely bargain with the devil
If he’d bless Leroy with the blues
He’d be eatin’ hot tamales, high class tail from Ziegfeld follies
And playin’ rag for New York nude revues

But the spirit of the Delta
Knows the devil has the final say
And even Lucifer has honor
In his own mischievous way

Leroy had been sleepin’ in his cabin
When the moanin’ wind played Love in Vain
The song was soft n gentle, deep and almost elemental
And then it played Terraplane
Then he heard a shadow singin’
“If I had possession over Judgment Day
I’d bless ev’ry drunk and tiller, but my cold, resentful killer
Wouldn’t have no right to pray”

And the spirit of the Delta
Had a slide of black cat bone
And a hole awaited at the graveyard
With today’s date on the stone

Leroy stumbled from his lonely cabin
With a Colt loaded with 32-20
The wind began to howl, a beast began to growl
Hell was on the prowl
But Leroy thought his gun was gonna do plenty

But the beast had fangs like daggers
And a fiery serpent for a tail
Leroy stood there spellbound,
Cos he knew a hell hound was on his trail
Lucifer avenged his bluesman
And Leroy was rewarded for his sin
There are lots of painted ladies, in the sulfur pits of Hades
And his grave was like a toothless grin

But the spirit of the Delta
Had been freed from his abode
So he waited on the highway
Caught another bus and rode

Yeah, he caught a Greyhound bus and rode…