Everybody's
gone away,
Said they're movin' to L.A.
There's not a soul I know around,
Everybody's leavin' town
Some caught a freight, some caught a plane
Find the sunshine, leave the rain
They said this town will waste your time
Guess they're right - it's wasting mine
Chorus:
Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good Time Charlie's got the blues
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Songwriters: O'KEEFE, DANNY
Album: Flower Power: Time of the Season [Time Life #2]
I’ve watched the Jacoby Brothers play a number of times now. Sometimes they play with my husband Ken at the North Central Florida Blues open mic. Sometimes they play around town, or around the county. I saw them one night in Melrose, at an art gallery called Gallery 26. That night was interesting – the crowd varied from the very young to the very old.
Some people were dressed up like they were going to church but with sandals or bare feet. Others were in shorts and t-shirts. Lots of white linen skirts. One girl, wearing a white halter dress, shimmied and shivered like light itself, she so loved the music. One man danced extravagantly with two women at once, a one-man show. The other guys in Melrose were more typical male dancers, moving lightly back and forth while their partners danced wildly to entertain them. The Jacoby Brothers get everyone dancing. Son of a gun gonna have some fun on the Bayou.
Then Friday night, I got to see them play again, this time at Dos Mamas in Gainesville. Dos Mamas, which used to be the Kicking Devil, is a fairly new restaurant with decent food and a small stage. They’ve managed to make the place more amenable to the music than it used to be, but there was still quite a crowd on Friday. There’s never quite enough room when these guys play.
Edwin Duane Jacoby is the singer.
What a voice, the perfect voice for blues. His brother, Mark Ashley Jacoby can light the
dance floor on fire with his harmonica playing.
And Timothy Gant is a great guitarist.
I don’t know the name of the other musicians who played with them on Friday, but they were excellent. I mean, this is some serious blues, folks. Walking Blues. Talking Blues. Flying Blues. I don’t know how they can do Memphis (Long Distance information, give me Memphis Tennessee,) in two such unique places as Gainesville and Melrose and have the crowd go wild in both environments.
The thing about the Blues is, you can always find something in the music to make you either ecstatically happy or dismally sad and it doesn’t matter which way you go. One emotion will lift you up and the other will allow you to get through your dismay.
The song above, written by Danny O’Keefe, always resonates with me this time of year. It’s that time of year when, if you live in a college town, you get to say a lot of goodbyes. Everyone is always looking for the next best thing, the next opportunity, the better chance. It’s nice to have some consistency. It’s nice to know that the music will go on even though friends leave. I love going out to listen to music, even when I have to work through concerts (when you work for yourself, you gotta work to deadlines, regardless of what’s going on around you).
So good luck to all my departing friends. I know you’ll enjoy your new environments, but I hope you don’t forget where you came from. Don’t forget where you had fun, where you listed to the music and enjoyed the nights. Don’t forget the Blues go away. Just like you.
On this particular Friday night, we got a special bonus. Little Mike, of Little Mike and the Tornadoes, is a stellar blues musician who plays phenomenal harp. Put him with the Jacoby Brothers, and you have a night to remember. And then, to top it all off, we had a lovely drive in the country, under the shining stars on one of the only clear nights in months. Truly, it is amazing what the blues can do for you – it can make you forget your troubles and enjoy the moment.
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