Pancho and Lefty ~ Townes Van Zandt

About a month ago, I learned a song called Pancho and Lefty, by Townes Van Zandt. It's a pretty odd song when you first hear it. You think "What the heck is this about?" I am going to tell you. First, read the lyrics down below to maybe get just a little bit of the story and meaning. The story is told in more detail after the lyrics.

“Pancho And Lefty”

Verse #1

Living on the road my friend, was gonna keep you free and clean, Now you wear your skin like iron, And your breath’s as hard as kerosene,You weren’t your mama’s only son, But her favorite one it seems, She began to cry when you said goodbye, And sank into your dreams. Pancho was a bandit boys, his horse was fast as polished steel, wore his gun outside his pants, for all the honest world to feel, Pancho met his match ya know, on the borders down in Mexico, nobody heard his dying words, but that's the way it goes.

Chorus

All the Federales say, they could have had him any day, they only let him hang around, out of kindness I suppose.

Verse #2

Lefty can't sing the blues, all night long like he used to, the dust that Pancho bit down south, ended up in Lefty's mouth, the day they laid old Pancho low, Lefty left for Ohio, where he got the bread to go, ain't nobody knows.

Chorus

All the Federales say, they could have had him any day, the only let him slip away, out of kindness I suppose.

Verse #3

Now the poet's sing how Pancho fell, Lefty's livin' in a cheap hotel, the border's quiet and Cleavland's cold, so the story ends we're told, Pancho need's your prayers it's true, save a few for Lefty to, he just did what he had to do, now he's growin' old.

Chorus

All the Federales say, they could have had him any day, they only let him go so wrong, out of kindness I suppose.

Chorus

Yes a few old gray Federales say, they could have had him any day, they only let him go so long, out of kindness I suppose.



My Mom and I and other sources say that the story is one of betrayal. The story is that Pancho was a bandit in Mexico who robed banks and trains. Lefty was his sidekick who helped set the robberies into place. The Federales were the Mexican federal police, who would offer a reward of say 1,500 pesos to whoever finds and brings Pancho to them, most likely a Dead or Alive situation. Lefty looks at the reward and says to himself "You know, I'm kinda tired of being in Pancho's shadow, plus I could do with a bit more money." Pancho and Lefty figure out their next robbery, then Lefty goes to the Federales and says "Hey, if you guys want to catch Pancho, here's where he is going to be." Pancho goes to the robbery and gets caught and hung on a noose. When they put Pancho in his coffin, Lefty said "I'm out of here" and went to Cleavland, Ohio. A long while later, Lefty is an old man, who still has the guilt of betraying his friend and turning him over to the Federales. All in all, it is a very sad story and if you listen to the Townes Van Zandt original version of the song, you can here the sorrow in his voice, almost as if it's Lefty singing the song.

Spaceship Models and New Performances

For Christmas I got a model of the Enterprise-E from Star Trek First Contact and Star Trek Nemesis and a model of the NSEA Protector from Galaxy Quest. The Protector was easy on building, in fact, I finished the building process before Christmas day was over. Enterprise-E, however, was a bit trickier for building because it had a lot of pieces in it. So far, Enterprise-E is the biggest model I have built, but that will change soon because I also have a visible V8 engine model that has over 300 pieces in it. Dad will have to help me on that one because it's a skill level 5, which means it's for experienced model builders.

Performance Alerts:

On March 1, I will be playing on Jensen Beach Blvd. for the Treasure Coast Marathon at 12:00. I will be playing near the end of the marathon, so a lot of people might be there. The race starts at 6:00 and ends at 1:00, starting and ending at the Indian Riverside park.

A few weeks ago, I played with Emi Sunshine at the Terra Fermata Tiki Bar. Emi is going to come back on Mothers Day and the owner of Terra Fermata, Ron Hart, wants me to open for her. More details on the performance will be presented as soon as I get it.

I'd like to express my appreciation to Jonathan Cummings for taking me under his wing and inviting me to perform regularly at the Crafted Keg on Tuesdays.  Thank you so much.

That's all for this week folks. I hope you enjoyed this blog post. I'll see y'all in the next post. B'bye.

By Fletcher Morton.

Pianos, Guitars, and Trumpets.

Last week was my public piano debut at the Crafted Keg. I played That's Just the Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby. It's a very complicated song and it took me about a year to complete it. I give thanks to Dad, who printed out the lyrics for me, and to Miss Debbie Boykin, for teaching me the basics of the fingering and chords for piano. Last year, my guitar teacher, David, got me a piano for my birthday. When we brought the keyboard in, Dad wanted me to learn That's Just the Way It Is. Now, a year later, I have learned and performed it in public. Thanks Dad for keeping me going with that song.

I am learning a bunch of new songs on guitar such as Cry Love - John Hiatt, Boat on the River - Styx, and my most recent song, Let My Love Open the Door - Pete Townshend. Each week at the Crafted Keg, I learn at least one new song and play it there. I am Currently working on Child of the Wild Blue Yonder - John Hiatt. Thank you Jonathan Cummings for letting me come up and play every Tuesday at the Crafted Keg.

Up until three days ago, my musical inventory was four guitars, a guitarlele, a keyboard, a set of harmonicas, and a saxophone. After I got the sax I wanted a trumpet, but the problem was that musical instruments are expensive. Then a few days ago, Dad was cruising through Craigslist and he found someone selling a trumpet for only $20. The trumpet is an Etude ETR 100 in like new condition, and it has the case and everything. Dad called the guy up and said "I'll come over and get it."

Now I have Sarah the Trumpet in my musical inventory. So far I am learning how to go from C to G with the other notes in between. G is a bit hard to get, because C is open, so you don't press any of the valves down, and G is the same way.  So you have to adjust your lips to get the G sound, and when you do middle C, keep your lips in the same position for D, E, and F. Dad played the Tuba so he teaches me a little bit.

Frank Aird (Trumpet Man): "Take 5", 'Alfred's Ocean Palace', Negril, Jamaica, 2011

That's all for this week's blog post. I'll see you guys next week! B'bye.

By Fletcher Morton.

Happy Birthday Dad!

This Monday was my Dad's 54th birthday. We went out and had a birthday lunch, with Sam T. Dog. My Mom and Dad had Publix sub sandwiches, and I had some chicken strips with Cool Ranch Doritos. We also had some really good barbeque sandwiches for dinner. Then we had some Pecan Pie for the birthday cake, and watched The Hunt For Red October, which is about submarines being very quiet on the sonars when they activate their Caterpillar Drive, a mechanism that is very effective under water.

My Mom and I are going to go see the Hunger Games: Mocking-jay Part 1. I have seen the trailer for it and I think that it is going to be awesome. In Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen, the main heroine of the story, shot an arrow at the top of the arena that houses the Hunger Games, a fight to the death, just when a stroke of lightning the tree that had a piece of string that was attached to the arrow. The arena blew up, and her friends came down and picked her up, but left Peeta Malark, Katniss's love, behind and now the Capitol, the makers of the Hunger Games, have him as prisoner. Will Peeta still be alive in this movie. Who knows?

I am working on a song called The Mad Man With A Box from Doctor Who on my piano. So far, I have little pieces of it right, but I'm still working on getting the whole thing. It is a great song about a lonely Time Lord, traveling through time and space on his own. The rest of the Time Lords are dead, and he has lost his friends. Then, he finds Amelia Pond, and soon after Clara Oswald, a.k.a The Impossible Girl.

Games, Lessons, And Songs.

One of my friends and I have been playing Minecraft In Real Life, a game we created based off of Minecraft. So far, I have a Diamond Sword, made by Diamonds and Wooden Sticks, and a diamond pickaxe, also made by Diamonds and wooden Sticks. My friend, Elliot, is the Miner, I am the Forger, and Emily, Elliot's sister, is the guard. She guards our house to make sure our supplies are safe. What I do is take any items that Elliot finds, and make something out of them, such as a Diamond Helmet, or an Emerald Sword.

I am also giving another friend, Luke, some guitar lessons. We started last Thursday with what everything is on a guitar and what the notes are. In our next lesson, we are going to go over three simple basic chords, G, C, and D.

I am working on some other songs for Key West next month, such as Southern Cross, Summer of 69', and Volcano. I am getting better at play Love Will Keep Us Alive. I am now playing it with very few mistakes.

  

Music, Fishing, and An Awesome Website

Next month mom and I are going down to Key West for my Grandpa's wedding.

I have learned quite a few good wedding songs, like I'll Stop the World and Meld With You ~ by Modern English, Footloose ~ by Kenny Loggins, and Love Will Keep Us Alive ~ by the Eagles. With Love Will Keep Us Alive, I am going to finger-pick the riff that is in the beginning all the way through the song, transitioning from chord to chord as I go.  Here's what I have so far:

I am trying to get Forever Autumn from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of War Of The Worlds down on piano because it is a really good song for it. Actually, all songs on that album are spectacular for keyboards. Also, it is one of my dad's favorite songs. Just listen to it and you will know why.

I am also getting very interested in fishing. I am using lures and frozen shrimp on an open face spin reel. So far I haven't caught anything yet, but I might just need to switch to live bait, I don't know. One time, I got right smack dab in the middle of a snook feeding frenzy, and I felt my lure touch some of the fish

but none of them went after it.

My dad found me this really cool website for learning called edX. It's a website that has great online courses for stuff like poetry, William Shakespeare, science and cooking, computer programing, and more. All you have to do is sign up for free, find some classes you might enjoy, and enroll. These courses are made by a whole bunch of really awesome schools, such as Berkley, Harvard and others.

History Of The Eagles

 

Last night we watched History of the Eagles on Netflix. The Eagles is one of my favorite bands of all time. They are known for songs like Take It Easy, Desperado, and Take It To The Limit.

The Eagles was originally made up of four guys: Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner. Glenn Frey lived in Detroit, MI. He started playing piano when he was five years old. At twelve, he quit playing piano, went to a Beatles concert, and said "I need to be a guitar player." Don Henley grew up in Linden, TX, and started playing drums by banging his fingers and pencils on books. Then, his parents got him a red drum set.

Glenn was a lead singer in the Mushrooms, and later he met Bob Seger. He was going to make a band with Seger, but it didn't work out. Don's first band was called Shiloh. He was able to get Kenny Rogers to be their manager. Glenn went to J.D. Souther and played with him a bit. He also met Jackson Browne. They lived in the same apartment building and through that, he learned how to write songs. Jackson Browne was working on Take It Easy, but he was stuck on the second verse with "I'm standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona." Glenn put in "It's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me." Glenn and Don were both signed by Amos records with their separate bands. That is how they met each other. They went to see Linda Ronstadt one day, and her manager said "We need some singers and guitar players. Come with us." They auditioned, and they started working with Linda. Glenn and Don wanted their own band, so they found Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner. That was the creation of the Eagles.

They were first signed by David Geffen's new record label, Asylum records. Then they also found Glyn Johns, a record producer. They found a manager named Irving Azoff, who helped them on several occasions. Soon after that, they didn't want Glyn to be the record producer, so they went for Bill Szymczyk,(pronounced Simsick). The Eagles decided that they needed a third guitar player, so in came Don Felder. Randy made Take It To The Limit, and everyone loved it when he sang those high parts in the end. Unfortunately, a while later Randy decided he didn't want to do that song anymore. So he left, and was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit. They also found Joe Walsh and replaced Bernie with Joe. After the Long Run album, the Eagles did a benefit concert for Senator Allan Cranston. The Senator's wife came around and thanked Don Felder, and he says "Your welcome,... I guess." Glenn got really mad about that and said "I'm going to kill you." Felder replied "I can't wait." The Eagles split up in 1980.

In the fourteen years that followed, the fans still really enjoyed the music. Don, Glenn, Timothy, Joe, and Felder all had solo careers. In 1994, they all got back together and played at a benefit concert in Aspen. Three years after that, they did the Hell Freezes Over tour. The name was inspired by something that Henley said. "The Eagles will get back together when hell freezes over." Then after that tour, there was tension between Felder and the rest of the band again.  So they replaced him one more time with Steuart Smith and they continue to tour and make new music. Hopefully they will keep on going for the rest of their lives.  Here's a video of me playing one of my favorite Eagles tunes.

OK Buckaroos

My performance at Archie's a few weeks ago went really well. Hopefully, next month's performance will be even better. Last week I watched a documentary/biography about Jerry Jeff Walker called OK Buckaroos. It was really great. I really liked the part where he asked someone in his hometown that traveled a lot how he gets out of there, and Jerry Jeff Walker went to Florida. When my dad was working at the Stuart airport he met Jerry Jeff Walker. He was going to go fishing with his buddies but didn't bring a swimsuit. So, my dad took Jerry Jeff Walker swimsuit shopping at West Marine. Thanks, Papa for the DVD. I really appreciate it. I now have 'Faithfully' by Journey in my piano song list. It is my second favorite Journey song. Number 1 is 'Separate Ways', a.k.a 'Worlds Apart'. I also have 'Piano Man' by Billy Joel, which is really good if you can split piano and harmonica on your keyboard.