Tobacco Road

Sometimes you hear a funk or jazz song, and that specific recording is so nice you decide that writing down the lyrics is not enough, you need to try to lay down every small detail of how the singer sang at that specific recording...

I believe that is what happened to this person when [s]he heard Tobacco Road, as sung by Eric Burdon & War. It was all I was looking for, because I noticed how good the song was, and suspected the lyrics were great. And I was not disappointed! It was also an interesting coincidence, because in Gabi's radio show the other day she mentioned a french song of someone writing a letter right before dying, and the character in this song also dies in the middle... (but in a more epic way.)

So I picked up that transcription of the song, and adapted it to the specific recording I have. The most important contribution I gave to the original was adding line breaks...

Parece que vários amigos meus conhecem... Sou sempre o último a saber então? :) Pois praqueles tão desavisados que eu: parece que essa música ainda foi a última que Jimi Hendrix jamais tocou ao vivo, junto do próprio Eric Burdon e War. Poucos dias depois ele morreu, e foi inclusive pro Burdon que a namorada/garota dele ligou perguntando o que ela deveria fazer.

So, here it is:

*******

From the record "Eric Burdon Declares War" (1970)...
The Tobacco Road lyrics
interpreted by Eric Burdon & War



I was born / in a filthy dump
my mother died / [\and] my daddy got dru-nk
and they left me here, yes / to die or grow
in the middl’ of
TOBACCO ROAD

I grew up in / [\a] prefabricated shack
when I went to high school / they pulled the clothes off my back
Lord above knows / how much I loathe
this mean old place call’d
TOBACCO ROAD, yes

TOBACCO ROAD let me tell you now / TOBACCO ROAD
talkin’ ’bout a road yeah
TOBACCO ROAD, Lord!!
talkin’ ’bout your road
talkin’ ’bout my road
- talkin’ ’bout TOBACCO ROAD
talkin’ ’bout a road

(:bridge)
but it’s home / hm- yes it is
the only life I-’ve / ever known
- I’ve ever known
and the Lo-rd knows / how much I loathe

(:breque)
TOBACCO ROAD roadroadroadro-ad (road road road)

talkin’ ’bout your road (road road road)
talkin’ ’bout my road (road road road)

you know- baby (road road road) (:bass)
I left my home, yeah (road road road)
because it’s dirty and it’s filthy (road road road)
you know it’s crawlin’ with rats, and stinkin’ with lice (road road road)
but it’s home, yes it is (road road road)
I tell you what I’m gonna do (road road road)
I tell you what I’m gonna do (road road road)

Oh I’m gonna leave
and I get a jo-b
and with the he-lp
and the grace from above
I’ll get miself money [at the whip? / yes I will?]
get rich I know
and ship it all ba-ack
to Tobacco Road [yeah a we-ll]
I will I’ll bring dynamite
and I’ll bring me a crane
and I’ll blow it all up, tear it down,
start all over again
and I’ll build me town, people
I’ll be [brought to top?] yes I will
I’ll be [crackin’ coal?] [Lord he knows?]
I’ll be [crocroocrou??] yes, I will
and I’ll keep the name yes yes yes
come on [never/ever forget/forgive me/this?] people
AAAAAAHHH!!!

Road road,
talkin’ ’bout a road yeah
talkin’ ’bout ya road (:metals)
talkin’ ’bout my road / talkin’ ’bout TOBACCO ROAD
you know I’m talkin’ about it / I’m tellin’ you about it
talkin’ about it

It’s gotta be changed
It’s got to be changed
I’ve got to... change it
I have a dream / everybody has a dream
I have a dream / that I can change it
I have a dre-am / that I can make it good once more
I have a dream / it’s mine and yours and mine and yours
Let me tell you ’bout my dream / Let me tell you ’bout my dream
We gotta to get it out / we have to build it up
tear it down / build it up

I had a dream one night (:percussion)
I had a dream one night
I was taken to a place
far away (:guitar)
from TOBACCO ROAD
far away (:bass)
far away from you
from away from myself (:keyboard)
I had a dream
I had a dream
up above my head
I saw something
it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen / in my life
I spoked out loud / I said
You know you are / the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life
I heard a voice tell me / I heard a voice say to me
it said “What / do you want?”
I said / “I want to change it
because it’s wrong/ I want to change it
because I believe it can be better”
The voice said to me
“What makes you think / that you / are man enough / to change anything?”
I thought for awhile
and then I spoke out loud
and I said to it
I said...
“Because I am a man (:keyboard shout)
and I’m a part / of the things that are wrong!!!
And if this world must go on
I have to put it right!
And I know / just by lookin’ at you, baby
that you’re superior to me
and you can help me
give me the answers!
give me some answers!!!”
She turned around to me
and you know what she said
she said “I can help you (:metals)
but there’s something / I want from you: it’s a gift
in return / for the information I can give.
I want a gift from you
I want a gift from you”
I tried my very best to look / up to the sky and then I realized I had no eyes
I was blind / Totally blind!!!
I begin to get afraid / afraid of the dark
I was afraid / afraid in the darkness
But then I thought about my friends / who have no eyesight
I thought about the world they live in / and how much it’s nice there
how good it made me feel / I was not afraid
I was not afraid anymore / I spoke up louder!!!
I said “Listen / You’ve got my eyesight
there isn’t much more I can give! / Now tell me how do I change it?”
The voice said back... / “Oh yes there is!
We want something more / than your eyesight!”
I thought for a while
and I thought “What more / could she want than my eyes?”
And then the terrible / feeling crept over me
as I began to realize that I understood / what she was talkin’ ’bout
I screamed out loud!
I said “I’m not-a-give up my life!
I’d love to give you my life
but I’m just a young man
and I have a wife / I have a wife and a baby (:metals)
and if I die / I know they’ll cry
so please don’t take my life”
then I heard my wife say (:riff change)
“It’s allright baby / I understand
go ahead and do your thing!” / There was nowhere I could run
I heard my father say / “I understand son
go ahead and give it / it’s yours to give.”
Then I heard my mother say the same thing. / She said
“Go ahead and give it away / I gave to you
and now it’s yours to give to someone else!!”
I was lost
I was lost
no place to run no place to hide
no place to run no place to hide
I felt it
I knew it
I could sense it
I could feel it
creepin’ up
from the tips of my toes
up my legs
over my knees
up over my belly
cross my chest
the black shadow-
of death
no place to run, [run to]
no place to hide
so I just laid there
and I died
died
died
darkness
stillness

But it’s gotta be change, yes it has!
It’s gotta be change yes it has...

I opened my eyes once more (:bongos)
I breathe again / I walked again (:drums)
I was ten times stronger
They give it back to me
I’m gonna give it back to you
life is too precious / life is - priceless
life goes on and on and [Lord?]
never stops / never stops, no no (:keyboard)
it just goes on and on and on and on and on (:bass)

I’ve got to change that road
I gotta build me a new road
We can walk that road together
hand in hand, yes
hand in hand ah- (:guitar)
hand in hand, people
AHW________

Road road [ha-ha-ha] (:all in!!!)
talkin’ ’bout a road yeah!
talkin’ ’bout TOBACCO ROAD
Taklin’ about TOBACCO ROAD, you know it!!
dirty ’n-a-filthy
dirty ’n-a-filthy,
dirty ’n-a-filthy
dirty ’n-a-filthy / TOBACCO ROAD yeah
TOBACCO ROAD people
TOBACCO ROAD yeah
hmm TOBACCO ROAD, yeah
TOBACCO ROAD, oh Lord...
TOBACCO ROAD

talkin’ ’bout a road
talkin’ ’bout a road
talkin’ ’bout a road
talkin’ ’bout a your road
talkin’ ’bout my---------- road
[everybody’s got a road?]
talkin’ ’bout a ro----ad

talkin’ ’bout it
talkin’ ’bout it
talkin’bout a road
TOBACCO ROAD.
TOBACCO ROAD...
TOBACCO ROAD...
TOBACCO ROAD----------
TOBACCO ROAD----------
[don’t? pa!]
’ever stop
don’t ever stop me
’ever stop me!
talkin’ ’bout a road----------
I’m coming home [baby]
I’m coming home [people]
I’m goiming home [now]
I’m coming home, yeah
I’m coming home, hmm
I’m going home
[something]
(:fade out)