Since it was the loss of Mary Travers that ultimately put the burr under me, this only came to fruition after the Manitou Mountain Music Fest was well over.
But if Bob, the Chilly Winds, or any of you others who perform want to share this, go right ahead. I'd be honored.
As far as it's quite audience-specific, I have to agree. But I imagine there are a number of people, especially young ones, who don't know the references made in the Righteous Brothers' "Rock and Roll Heaven," and time has made the stars of Tex Ritter's "Hillbilly Heaven" even more obscure.
Like I said, the tune is the classic "Last Night I had the Strangest Dream," and here are my words:
I know somewhere folk singers go
Where the music never ends
A Hootenanny Heaven where
We'll sing with all our friends
It's the Glory that we're all bound for
Where all the flow'rs have gone
With All our Trials forgotten in
A bold and brighter dawn
There's Woody Guthrie center stage,
Leadbelly right behind,
Josh White, and Cisco Houston there
in harmonies divine
All the troubadours who shared a dream
of peace and better days
Like Bud and Travis, Lou Gottlieb,
Odetta, and Lee Hays
Jim Croce, Harry Chapin and
John Denver, just a few
Of the balladeers who left too soon
to join that wond'rous crew
And the Kingston boys all play along,
Their banjos ringing true,
Nick Reynolds, and Dave Guard, along
with laughin' Johnny Stew
And with her bangs and long blond hair
A-blowin' in the Wind
Angelic Mary Travers thrills
Us all when she joins in
All the folkies that have come and gone
with names the world won't know
will proudly stand with all the stars
in that fantastic show
I dream it's where I'll be someday
with my guitar in hand
To raise my voice in chorus with
that mighty noble band
Yes there's a place folk singers go
Where the music never ends
A Hootenanny Heaven where
We'll sing with all our friends
Thanks for your time.
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