This song is simply a story, all of it true.
It’s about a another song called “Freely Flowing”. The original music for “Freely Flowing” was written by Patrick Dietsch, a French guitarist I met at the end of 1972 somewhere in Mexico. He was travelling with another guitarist and they would pick up some travelling money by playing at whatever venues they could find. I only knew him for a week or two.
The last time I saw him he was performing at a bar on December 31, 1972. I presented him with some lyrics I’d written that day for an instrumental he’d composed. And that was that. I played that song for a few years until my guitar playing stopped being a big part of my life and forgot about it.
When I uncovered the song buried in my Blue Book it had his name and address on the same page as the lyrics. In the Google era tracking people down isn’t what it used to be. I quickly discovered that he had been been a bit of a rock and roll star in France and that his career lasted until the early 2000s. I sent him a message but didn’t get a reply. The next time I looked I found his obituary. He died of Alzheimer’s in May last year.
I was still left with the song. I could remember how it began and the first two or three chords but that was it. With Patrick gone there’d be no one who could tell me how it went. So I had to make it up. The recomposed “Freely Flowing” will be the next song on this page pretty soon.
Watch this space.
By the way, the image accompanying this song is the actual Blue Book.
Blue Book
Verse 1:
Patrick played guitar in a Mexican bar back in 1972
We hung around together, made some music for a week or two
That Frenchman wrote a song
I wrote some lyrics then went traveling on
Wrote it down it in my Blue Book like I’d sometimes do
I added “Freely Flowing” to the list of songs in my repetoire
Back in those days I was playing quite a lot
But time plays games I guess
Over time I was playing less and less
Until I couldn’t even recall what it was that I’d forgot
Chorus:
A blue book from my younger years
Full of hope and dreams and all my personal fears
There’s no music but the words still last
Becoming part of today from the deep past
Verse 2:
Going through old stuff I happened on my blue book
Full with memories of at least some of those days
There was that song
And than a little bit later on
His name and address were sitting right there on the page
Thought these days it might be possible to find Patrick
Can’t know what you can do unless you take a chance
But I’ll admit surprise
When the story that hit my eyes
Was about a rock and roll star in France
Chorus:
A blue book from my younger years
Full of hope and dreams and all my personal fears
There’s no music but the words still last
Becomming part of today from the deep past
Verse 3:
He was a faded star cuz just like me he was old now
I figured i’d send him a message and wait and see
I’d found my words
But I had lost his tune
Who knows, maybe he might remember me
Sad to say there really isn’t a happy ending
By the time I finally looked he had drifted so very far
Why your memory goes
I guess that nobody know
In May of 21 he finally put down his last guitar
Chorus:
A blue book from my younger years
Full of hope and dreams and all my personal fears
There’s no music but the words still last
Becomming part of today from the deep past
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