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Dory Previn - A Stone For Bessie Smith
from the album "Mythical Kings and Iguanas" (Mediarts Records, 1971)
A Stone For Bessie Smith
Isn't it amazing
shakes you to the bone
she bought a stone for Bessie Smith
she bought Bessie Smith a stone
she got it for her gravesite on a temporary loan
but she forgot she had not paid for her own
She forgot she had not paid
she forgot she had not paid
after all the contracts and arrangements have been made
she went to Bessie's grave and marked it with a stone
but she forgot she had not paid for her own
She went home to her class reunion
where a classmate he confessed
she wouldn't want this getting out
but she used to be the best
in school she was a nice girl
as decent as the rest
though she never was conservatively dressed
Isn't it amazing
shakes you to the bone
she bought a stone for Bessie Smith
she bought Bessie Smith a stone
she got it for her gravesite
on a temporary loan
but she forgot she had not paid for her own
she forgot she had not paid
she forgot she had not paid
after all the letters on the deed begun to fade
and her ashes have been scattered
been battered and been blown
but she forgot she had not paid for her own
[a poem on the death of Janis Joplin
who'd paid half the cost for a gravestone
on Bessie Smith's previously unmarked grave]
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revised 21 August 2006
URL http://www.wussu.com/bessiesmith/doryprevin.htm