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Free and On the Road

from Live at Crystal Gardens by Jim Moffatt

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Was playing in a duo with the great Don Cameron. We were The Bow River Lumber Company. One night we had just finished a successful audition for the Blackfeet Folk Festival and we trying to get into the bus station to get the hound home. The lady at the door wouldn't let us in. The conversation went something like this..
lady "The buss doesn't come to 3am, we lock the doors till then so you can't come in"
Us "but its raining, we have our instruments and it's too cold. Let us in to wait we won’t be any trouble.
So she let us in and we waited....
There were 1480 floor tiles. Five windows each with 24 panes of glass. And 3 doors. One went out side and was locked. One went into the ladies can and the other lead to a very bitchy taxi dispatcher who wanted nothing to do with us. It was a long night. I wrote this song.

lyrics

Free and On the Road
Its 3ockock in the morning and I've got the bus stop blues. Trying to write a song but can't seem to find a tune. The drivers says it's time to go but I can't put down the song, so I take it with me on the bus and I write it on the road

It started out as a melody so soft and sweet and fine but some how the rhythm of the bus has speeded up the time. I feel the wheels rumbling. The night is dark and cold. Just another lonely minstrel, free and on the road.

The stranger up in front of me is asleep and kind of old. The lady sitting next to me gives a stare that is so cold. My hairs' unbrushed sense morning and my clothes have all been well worn. Just the price a minstrel pays to be free and on the road

(Instrumental)

I reach up for my guitar just to help put down the song. But the driver says "Boy put that thing away we're at your stop in town". And late at night I go home, to my bed and I'm all alone. Just another lonely minstrel free and on the road. Free and on the road. You see I'm free and on the road.

Copyright 1982 Jim Moffatt

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from Live at Crystal Gardens, released May 6, 2016

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Jim Moffatt Victoria, British Columbia

"Why do I do this?” In the simplest terms it’s "I write, therefore I am." Corny, sure, but I actually hear myself thinking in song. Everything from the mundane to the serious... in my minds "ear" I hear melody lines and music when I am pondering .
Does that make me nuts? Maybe. Some of the songs that play in my head I am driven to share, to experience them with others. I am a song writer. ... more

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