The Last Waltz Page #4

just being able to chop wood

or hit your thumb with a hammer.

We'd be concerned with fixing

a tape recorder, fixing a screen door.

Stuff like that.

And getting the songs together.

We always seemed

to get a whole lot more done

when we didn't have

a lot of company around.

We were more productive.

And as soon as company came,

of course, we'd start having fun.

You know what happens

when you have too much fun.

Something we've kind of evaded

around here, but I'll ask it now.

- What about women and the road?

- I love 'em.

That's probably why

we've been on the road.

- That's it.

- Not that I don't like the music.

I thought you weren't supposed

to talk about it too much.

- No, I guess we're not.

- I thought we were supposed to...

pan away from that sort of stuff,

get into something else.

Since the beginning,

since we started playing together,

just like we've all grown just a little bit,

so have the women.

- You know? And it's amazing.

- That's right. That's good.

I just wanna break even.

Joni Mitchell. Right.

' No regrets, coyote

' We just come from such

different sets of circumstance

' I'm up all night in the studios

and you're up early on your ranch

' You'll be brushing out a brood mare's

tail while the sun is ascending

' And I'll just be getting home

with my reel-to-reel

' There's no comprehending

' Just how close to the bone

and the skin and the eyes

' And the lips you can get

' And still feel so alone

' And still feel related

' Like stations in some relay

' You're not a hit-and-run driver, no, no

' Racing away

' You just picked up a hitcher

' A prisoner of the white lines

on the freeway

' We saw a farmhouse burning down

' In the middle of nowhere

in the middle of the night

' And we rolled right past that tragedy

' until we pulled in

to some roadhouse lights

' Where a local band was playing

' Locals were up kicking

and shaking on the floor

' The next thing I know

' That coyote's at my door

' He pins me in the corner

and he won't take "No!"

' He drags me out on the dance floor

and we're dancing close and slow

' Now he's got a woman at home

' He's got another woman down the hall

and he seems to want me anyway

' Why d'you have to get so drunk

and lead me on that way?

' You just picked up a hitcher

' A prisoner of the white lines

on the freeway

' I looked a coyote right in the face

' On the road to Baljennie,

near my old home town

' He went running through

the whisker wheat

' Chasing some prize down

' And a hawk was playing with him

' Coyote was jumping straight up

and making passes

' He had those same eyes, just like yours

' under your dark glasses

' Privately probing the public rooms

' And peeking through keyholes

in numbered doors

' Where the players lick their wounds

and take their temporary lovers

' And their pills and powders

to get them through this passion play

' No regrets, coyote

' I just get off up aways

' You just picked up a hitcher

' A prisoner of the white lines

on the freeway

' Coyote's in the coffee shop

' He's staring a hole

in his scrambled eggs

' He picks up my scent on his fingers

while he's watching the waitresses' legs

' He's too far from the Bay of Fundy

' From Appaloosas and eagles and tides

' And the air-conditioned cubicles

' And the carbon ribbon rides

are spelling it out so clear

' Either he's gonna

have to stand and fight

' Or take off out of here

' I've tried to run away myself

' To run away and wrestle with my ego

' And with this flame

you put here in this Eskimo

' In this hitcher

' In this prisoner

' Of the fine white lines

' Of the white lines

' On the free freeway

Levon's home town,

it's near West Helena.

One time we were there,

for some reason or another,

and we decided we were gonna look up

one of the legends of that town,

which was Sonny Boy Williamson.

In my opinion, he's the best harp player,

that's like harmonica,

blues harmonica, that I've ever heard.

He's the big Daddy of 'em.

And he took us to a friend of his,

a woman's place,

who served food and corn liquor.

In a southern booze can.

He would sit there

and he was playing for us.

And we were getting drunk

and trying to figure out where we were.

He was spitting in a can.

I thought he was dipping snuff.

I thought he had something in his lip.

And he kept spitting in this can and

playing, and we kept getting drunker.

Finally, I looked over in the can

and I realised it was blood.

He was getting pretty tired

and pretty drunk by then.

And we made big plans for the future

and all kinds of things we were gonna do.

And it was tremendous. A great night.

A couple of months later, we got a letter

from his manager, or whoever it was,

saying that he had passed away.

' Train arrive

' 16 coaches long

' Train arrive, yeah

' 16 coaches long

' Well, that long, black train

took my baby and gone

' Train, train

' Rolling round the bend

' Train, train

' Rolling round the bend

' Well, it took my baby

away from me again

' Heard that whistle blowing,

it was the middle of the night

' When I got down to the station

the train was pulling out of sight

' Mystery train

' Rolling round the bend

' Mystery train

' Rolling round the bend

' Well, it took my baby

' Away from me again

Paul Butterfield!

Near Memphis,

cotton country, rice country,

the most interesting thing

is probably the music.

Levon, who came from around there?

Carl Perkins.

Muddy Waters, the king of country music.

Elvis Presley.

Johnny Cash. Bo Diddley.

That's kind of the middle

of the country back there.

So bluegrass or country music,

you know, if it comes down to that area

and if it mixes there with rhythm

and if it dances,

then you've got a combination

of all those different kinds of music.

Country, bluegrass, blues music.

- The melting pot.

- Show music.

- And what's it called?

- Rock and roll!

Yes. Exactly.

Whoa!

' When I was a young boy

' At the age of five

' My mother said I would be

' The greatest man alive

' But now I'm a man

' Way past 21

' I want you to believe me, woman

' I have lots of fun

' I'm a man

' I spell "M"

' "A", chile

' "N"

' My grandma says I'm grown

' No "B"

' "O", chile

' "Y"

' That mean mannish boy

' Man

' I'm a full-grown man

' Man

' I'm a natural-born lover's man

' Man

' I'm a rolling stone

' Man

' I'm a hoochie-coochie man

' Well

' Well, well, well

' The line I shoot

' I will never miss

' When I make love to a girl

' She can't resist

' I think I'll go down

' To old Kansas Stew

' I'm gonna bring back my second cousin

' That little Johnny Congeroo

' All you little girls

' Sitting out at that line

' I can make love to you, girl

' In five minutes' time

' Ain't that a man?

' I spell "M"

' "A", chile

' "N"

' That represents man

' No "B"

' "O", chile

' "Y"

' That means mannish boy

' Man

' I'm a full-grown man

' Man

' I'm a natural-born lover's man

' Man

' I'm a rolling stone

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes