Something new tonight. Instead of the Calhoon Brothers live version -- there isn't one -- we have an alternate version as recorded in 1993, right before the final version was done. I had forgotten that I even had a "first take" in which I used an annoying keyboard/banjo riff all the way through, and was still experimenting with improving the words. As with many of these songs that were written in the 70s and not recorded, or played, until the 90s, I was relying on some lyrics written on loose slips of paper and memories of chord progressions.
Written: Gallagher
Street, Las Cruces NM, 1980
Inspired by nothing,
this song turned out to have some of Knees’ best lines. He never played it with
any of his bands and didn’t really come up with the music until he recorded it
back in the early 90s.
I shoulda been born a
thousand years ago
I’da been a hero of the
day
You’d find me on a
quest for a damsel in distress
An you peasants woulda
cheered me on my way.
I shoulda been born a
thousand years ago
Helpin out a lady fair
in need
In my suit of armor
I sure woulda been a
charmer
Chivalry comes
naturally to me.
But I was born in
nineteen and sixty-one
A renaissance or two
too late
An when I look aroun,
There ain’t no
treasures to be found
Everything I do is out
of date.
So tonight I’ll blaze
the same ol trail again
Lookin for that same ol
grail again
I’m a knight out on the
town,
A damsel-huntin clown
Joustin my way back
into jail again.
I shoulda been born a
thousand years ago
I’m just a man out of
time
When I look around
today,
Ain’t no dragons left
to slay
An even if there was
it’d be a crime.
Spotoid
First take as recorded in 1993 in Shreveport LA
