Talkin' Return Of The Great Folk Scare Blues Lyrics - John Wesley Harding

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