[The entire song is based on a blues scale and the following stomp chord progression:
||: F-A-C-E♭, F#-A-C-E♭|
| G-B♭-C-E, C-E-G-B♭ |
| F-A-C-E♭, F#-A-C-E♭|
| G-B♭-C-E, C-E-G-B♭ |
| F-A-C-E♭, F#-A-C-E♭|
| G-B♭-C-E, G-A-C#-E |
| F#-A-C-D |
| F-G-B-D :||
Rhythmic structure is:
||: DUM, dah- | DUM, dah- :||
Instruments imitate various farm animals.
Musicians laugh and carry on while singing and playing.
Audience listens interactively and hollers trash talk to the band in a call-and-response fashion.
]
[Verse 1]
You say you’ve got the blues today?
Well how’dya spect to feel right now
when all you did was drink last night
to play the fool and lose your bets
[Chorus]
You’ve got no leg to stand on now
It’s all your fault; you know I’m right
You mess things up and tear ‘em down
until thain’t nuttin’ left but blues.
[Trash talk: Shit, he’s got the blues all the time.]
[Verse 2]
You lay around and loaf all day
and then complain you’ve got no bread
Well how the hell do you expect
to buy your grub and pay your rent?
[Trash talker 1: He comes calling for dinner every night.]
[Trash talker 2: (laughing) Yeah, he sleeps on my doorstep.]
[Trash talker 3: He’s got it all figured out.]
[Verse 3]
Well it ain’t cool to spend your pay
to try and beat a house of cards
that always wins and leaves you broke,
but you won’t learn, I know you won’t.
[Trash talk: He’ll have to go back to school for that.]
[Bridge]
The blues will chase you till you’re dead
unless you get it in your head
that luck won’t ever pay the bills
or keep you under your own roof.
[Trash talker 1: Hey man, what you gonna do when repo comes calling?]
[Verse 4]
The blues you’ve got keep calling you
but you don’t have to answer them
If you wised up, they’d go away
and take the grief they love to stir.
[Trash talker 2: Wise up? Do you know him? Shit, he ain’t gonna do that (Laughing).]
[Chorus]
You’ve got no leg to stand on now
It’s all your fault; you know I’m right
You mess things up and tear ‘em down
until thain’t nuttin’ left but blues.
[Scat singing]
[Outro]
You shake your fist at everything
but give up easy to the blues
when all you need is what you have
before you throw it all away.
Lyrics, Bill Graham
