Steve Goodman - You Better Get It While You Can (The Ballad Of Carl Martin) lyrics

I remember when I met Carl Martin It must have been a dozen years ago This wise old gent was grey and bent But his eyes had a fiery glow He was born April Fool's Day of 1906 Near Big Stone Gap, VA He could play a little fiddle And some blues guitar that he'd picked up along the way But, Jethro, once he put his hands on the mandolin He lit up just like a Christmas tree Along with Ted Bogan and Howard Armstrong They were the best string band I ever did see Now for fifty odd years they played rent parties Road houses, concerts and festivals too At the drop of a hat these three black cats Would play you every song they knew It was "Lady Be Good" and "The Barnyard Dance" And "The Ice Cream Freezer Blues" Now, they'd trot the oldest chestnuts out And make every one sound brand new And the little white boys with their shiny guitars Would follow right along at their heels They learned all the words and they learned all the chords But they never did learn how it feels Now one night I asked Carl where he got the fire And he said, 'Steve, you've got to understand If you want to be someone, you better have some fun And you better get it while you can.' He said: You better get it while you can You better get it while you can If you wait too long, it'll all be gone And you'll be sorry then It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor And it's the same for a woman or a man From the cradle to the crypt Is a mighty short trip So you better get it while you can Carl always had a way to make the good times roll When the rest of us weren't so sure He'd just pick out the prettiest woman in the room And then he'd sing every song to her Now, one night back East when the gig was done There was an all night blow-out jam We played and we sang and we drank for hours Until the sun came up again It was blues and ballads, Ragtime, Dixieland, Swing Some old time show tunes And then Carl Martin sang some songs nobody else knew And some I haven't heard since then But right before dawn he did two more songs Just to separate the strong from the faint It was a red-hot rendition of "The Old Pine Tree" And a double-time version of 'The Saints' (With the mandolin behind his head) And when he was done those of us who could still breathe Took off our hats to that man Carl had played everybody under the table that night And he said, 'You better get it while you can' It was: You better get it while you can You better get it while you can If you wait too long, it'll all be gone And you'll be sorry then It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor And it's the same for a woman or a man From the cradle to the crypt Is a mighty short trip So you better get it while you can You know Carl and his buddies never got too far When he died Martin didn't have a dime He was a little behind in his payments And a little bit ahead of his time Last week some so-called musicians Stayed up real late and burned one down The liquor kept coming, so we kept strumming Til a minute or two before dawn There were those who stayed and those who faded But soon I was left all alone Now I don't believe in ghosts - but I could swear I heard Carl Martin singing one more song You better get it while you can You better get it while you can If you wait too long, it'll all be gone And you'll be sorry then It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor And it's the same for a woman or a man From the cradle to the crypt Is a mighty short trip So you better get it while you can You better get it while you can