Worried Man Blues
I cross the Mississippi on US49, heading east. In Clarksdale, US49 intersects Highway 61 and that is the Crossroads of Blues Legend. Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the devil. Pablo Picasso never sold his soul to the devil but a black guy from the Delta - I guess that's gotta be the explanation. Anyway... On one corner is a laundromat - The Devil May Care QuickieMat. In the window is a sign, - 'Lay It Down, Suds It Up.' Across the road is a Popeye Fried Chicken. I go in the drive-through lane and stop at the menu board. A voice from the speaker says, "How, how, how may I serve you?" I order a 3-piece chicken dinner with hush puppies and a Sprite. "How, how, how do you want that chicken?" Extra crispy, I say and proceed to the pickup window. Howlin Wolf leans out with a neatly folded bag dwarfed in his fist. Driving off I remember the pecan pie slice I wanted to order. I park and go inside. Robert Zimmerman and Alan Lomax wait behind the counter. Muddy Waters, wearing the manager's badge, is bussing tables. A song is playing on the jukebox
Takes a worried man to sing a worried song
It takes a worried man to sing a worried song
I am worried now but I won't be worried long
I went down the river, lay down to sleep
The night is a river
That hides the further shore and a bottom deep
When I woke shackles bound my heart
29 links of chain
And on each link initial of my name
Takes a worried man to sing a worried song
It takes a worried man to sing a worried song
I am worried now, I won't be worried long
I asked that judge
What might be my crime
Judge, tell me what is my fine
Son, it's 21 years on the Soda Mountain line
Train she ride
16 coaches long
The train she rides
16 coaches long
The girl I love
Is on that train, on that train and gone
Takes a worried man to sing a worried song
It takes a worried man to sing a worried song
I am worried now, I won't be worried long
Anyone asks you who composed that song
Anyone asks you
Who composed that song?
Tell 'em t'was I, at it all day long
Tell 'em t'was I, it was all day long
Takes a worried man to sing a worried song
It takes a worried man to sing a worried song
I am worried, won't be worried long