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The Blacksmith Shop

from Seven Cities by D. R. Commander

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about

Through the machinations of his friend, a musician partying at the oldest bar in North America is asked to sit in for legendary lounge pianist Johnny Gordon. Influences: Paul Simon, Eddie From Ohio

lyrics

“The Blacksmith Shop”
Words and Music by D. R. Commander
Copyright ©2007 Twelve-Foot Hedgehog Music (ASCAP). All Rights Reserved.

[Verse]
Down past the lights and crowds of Bourbon street,
There sits a pub that's stuck in time
Back in the corner, Johnny plays the tunes
Just like he's done since '65

You can see the wind and the flood in the lines on his face,
Forty years of four-hour nights
The quarter is mostly back together post-K,
And everywhere's a waterline
But the Whos, they dance and sing without a care,
Without tomorrow on their mind

[Chorus]
And Johnny played 'em an old tune
They can't quite remember, and neither could he
In that smoke-filled room,
For a moment all the world seems to stop
Down at the Blacksmith Shop

[Verse]
Maxwell bought me hurricanes, and he didn't tell me he'd arranged
For me to sit in
But I believed it kind of strange when Johnny said,
"Hey, just for a change, you know I'd like to ask my friend ..."

I was half a drink past quiet humility,
And I was three quarters of a drink past knowing how to sing,
And I had long out-drunk my swiss cheese memory, so I sang 'em
"Crocodile Rock", and "Take it Easy",
and "I've Got Friends in Low Places",
And half of "Running on Empty"

[Chorus]
So I sang 'em an old tune
They can't quite remember, and neither could I
In that smoke-filled room,
For a moment all the world seems to stop
Down at the Blacksmith Shop

[Solo]

[Chorus]
And Johnny played 'em an old tune
They can't quite remember, and neither could he
In that smoke-filled room,
For a moment all the world seems to stop
Down at the Blacksmith Shop

Down past the lights and crowds of Bourbon street,
There sits a pub that's stuck in time

credits

from Seven Cities, released April 17, 2013
Musicians:
D. R. Commander (piano, electronic drums/percussion, vocals)
Aaron Goldfarb (guitar)
G. Pat Harris (upright electric bass)
Andrea Whaley (backing vocals)

Recorded by D. R. Commander at Spare Oom Studio, Austin, Texas
Backing vocals recorded at The Zone Recording Studio, Dripping Springs, Texas (engineer: Mike Morgan)
Produced by D. R. Commander
Mixed by Pat Manske at The Zone Recording Studio, Dripping Springs, Texas
Mastered by Nick Landis at Terra Nova Digital Audio, Inc., Austin, Texas

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about

D. R. Commander Asheville, North Carolina

A self-taught pianist, D. R. Commander's approach to the instrument is somewhat non-traditional and is influenced as much by Earl Scruggs and Mark Knopfler as by Bruce Hornsby and Jackson Browne. His songs paint pictures of far-off, beautiful places inhabited by people who are different on the surface but whose lives intertwine in the same universal quest. ... more

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