1931

 1931

(Slideman Blues)

on a speakeasy night

under the spell of moonshine

you let the trombone drag

waaah-wah-wah...waaah-wah...waaah-wah

while satin dames and tuxedoed gents

shimmied in the crystal ballroom

to dream a little dream

what an evening you had

coppers raided the joint

and an underaged kid trumpeted  away

waaah-wah-wah...waaah-wah...waaah-wah

couldn't carry a note

but he beat the rap

under his parents' prohibition

back at the hotel

you tripped a bedside switch

and some preacher's daughter

lit up a slender cigarette filter

she pulled down the sheet music

and invited you to play 

waaah-wah-wah...waaah-wah...waaah-wah

on that mellow horn 

after two years on the road 

you made your getaway

from those one-night gigs as a slideman

now scores of 78s from your twenties

drift in and out on the radio

waaah-wah-wah...waaah-wah...waaah-wah

like a '26 hudson fading into the night

Breyel, Timm. "1931 (Slideman Blues)". All rights reserved.

"1931 (SLIDEMAN BLUES)" is dedicated to L.N. Wolf, my maternal grandfather, who inspired me with his jazz age tales, and at the same time, tried to offer some coming-of-age advice.

That said, imagine the 1931 hit song, "Dream A Little Dream of Me", performed by a jazz band with trombone solo, during Prohibition, in a turn-of-the 20th century hotel ballroom, in an Ozark resort town. That's my grand-dad in his element