INVITATION TO THE BLUES

And suddenly there it is, hiding in plain sight
B-flat 9, right there on page 89 of Hal Leonard’s
Guitar Method: Incredible Chord Finder, a real
two-fingered wrist-wrencher for a simple fella
whose fat little fingers after forty years are still
fretting out ‘House of the Rising Sun’ and
all those other same ol’ same ol’ C, G,
A-minor and F-chord songs
of the sixties.


But when my little flat-top’s strings
float this one back up to me all smoky
and dark and minor... I mean, man, it’s like
some hip fairy godmother just waved her wand
to the light switch, waxed my kitchen all
neon-café-blue, shape-shifted my side chair
into the center-stage barstool...
and out comes


'Scotch and soda... mud in your eye
baby do I feel high... oh me oh my...'


and it hits me, man... it’s like, maybe I’m at
The Crossroads...


and off in the distance I can just barely
make out the sweetness of
‘Bye Bye Miss American Pie’
wafting its way out of town
on the wayward wind...


              but whoa, dude!
                                                          B-flat 9!

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