william (big bill) lee conley broonzy
mississippi blues master
died15/08/58 of throat cancer
the final clear out
good bye my old lp`s
lack of space rather than
new technology
means vinyl discs
all soon to be gone
all but this special one
he came to our town but we didn't go
still only boys how were we to know
that death has no respect for fame
death deals in numbers not in names
he died the very next year
an old man of uncertain age
who sang for the world
when ever he took centre stage
he would laugh he would joke
riffle and play with the strings
he would make that guitar talk
then he would start to sing
he spoke to my generation
told us nothing was ever news
he'd lived it before us
written it in his blues
and he sang of simple things
the little things of life
but he sang it so with words
that could cut like a knife
I play him still on vinyl disc
and through half a century's hiss
that voice still falls on my ears
like the gift of my first kiss
he taught me so much in my youth
a youth now long long gone
to me and others in the know
bill broonzy plays and still lives on
through the tears
I slip that disc away
to be played again
some unknown day
