Outward Bound
A Blues Song
Written for Bradley Ramsey Pandamonium Prompt.
My attempt at a 12 bar chord progression blues song, AAB lyric structure.
He took up the guitar and learned to make it cry
Took up the guitar and learned to make it cry
Turned all that darkness into something that could fly
πΆ
He played at the crossroads with his hat turned up for coins
Played at the crossroads with his hat turned up for coins
Sang about a mercy that he felt down in his bones
πΆ
Refrain
Dark was the night, cold was the ground
Dark was the night, Lord, cold was the ground
Willie Johnson's voice, the farthest human sound
πΆ
Beaumont burned him out in October '45
Lord, Beaumont burned him out, October '45
Slept in char and wet newspaper, barely kept alive
πΆ
He walked to get some healing and they turned him from the door
Walked to get some healing, Lord, they turned him from the door
He laid down in the ashes and he never rose, no more
πΆ
Refrain
Dark was the night, cold was the ground
Dark was the night, Lord, cold was the ground
Willie Johnsonβs voice, the farthest human sound
πΆ
They put him in the ground without a marker or a name
Put him in the ground, Lord, without a marker or a name
The way they always buried those they treated all the same
πΆ
Thirty-two years on, a man named Sagan heard the song
Thirty-two years on, Carl Sagan heard that song
Pressed it into gold and sent it where it belongs
πΆ
Now Voyager carries him past the edge of everything
Voyager carries Willie past the edge of everything
Past the last of sunlight, Lord ~ still traveling, still singing
πΆ
Dark was the night, cold was the ground
Dark was the night, Lord, cold was the ground
Willie Johnson's voice
still going
outward boundβ¦




So cool! what an amazing response to this prompt!
I absolutely love this and how you tied it into the voyager records. so good! β¨π¦