Talkin' Return of the Great Gangsta Folk Scare Blues

John Wesley HardingJohn Wesley Har… 

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John Wesley Harding

Wesley Stace (born 22 October 1965) is a folk/pop singer-songwriter and author who goes by the stage name John Wesley Harding. Under his real name, he has written three novels. more »

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Well I was born in 1965
That was a hell of a good time to be alive
Except that by the age of ten
The music had turned crap again
Now people say they wanna bring back the 70's
I say hey give the bad music of today a chance

Punk came round, that was pretty scary
It was like a contemporary Peter, Paul and Mary
Shocking!
And before the 80's got too far
It was time for me to pick up my guitar
Picked it up
Looked good!

All my friends turned up their noses
At Freewheelin' and For The Roses
Preferring image over substance
A hairstyle for a musical influence
All those Ultravox records, they're gathering dust
But me, I'm still listening to Live Rust
And if the 90's are the 60's turned upside down
Then the 80's were the 60's the right way up
Only with half the top cut off...
If you think about it!

And in the town where I did live
There was no-one I could do hoot night with
So I sat alone with my six strings
And I learned how to play and sing
Woody Guthrie's guitar killed fascists and crime
But in Hastings, East Sussex, South of England
My guitar killed time...

And I got gigs opening for bands
And things would get outta hand
Cos big men would yell out their derision
So I developed humor as a defense mechanism...
The main band of the night would be...
And I'd go on first and I'd get carried away...
Literally

And I moved to the big old smoky city
Just after University
And I got a gig opening for a friend of mine
Where I happened to be playing my ace in the right place at the
Right time...
So I gave up my PhD
To become a dustbowl folky
That's Phil Ochs not Phil Oakey

And then I learned the Folksinger's Prayer and it goes like this:

Our Father
Who art on Folkways
Ramblin' Jack be thy name
Thy Folk City come
Thy will be done
On CD as it was on vinyl
Give us this day our daily gig
And forgive us our protest
As we forgive those who protest against us
And lead us not into electricity
But deliver us from commercialism
For Prine is the kingdom
The power of the story
Forever be clever
A minor...

So hey everybody the time is near
The Folk revival's coming here
But it's a tough thing to revive today
Cos it never really goes away
That's cos it's a good thing
So everyone it's time to come and claim your share
It's time to re-iron your hair
It's time to relearn Scarborough Fayre
And in 5 years time you're gonna look back
You're gonna say 'I was there'
At the return of the great folk scare

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