Despite the title and the cover art, this little song is in no way autobiographical. It’s a musical short story of a troubled young man in Chicago, juggling memories of his misspent youth, and worrying about his sister’s wellbeing while’s he awaiting parole…
Available now to stream or download from BandCamp and SoundCloud.
When the chill wind steels through the canyon
The city puts its heart on ice
There’s no effort in the rush to escape there
That’s really no kind of life
It’s a one-time tonic for the twist around
So we’re running through the back streets
Find adventure on the wrong side of town
No one leafing through the sheets
When the summer comes around
The wind blows as hard if you let her
But it really can’t warm you now
A Northern boy ought to know better
Kicking back another own goal
It’s strange how it feels
To know you’ll never find the answer
To the question nags at your soul
Didn’t you know any better?
Did you never learn to rock and roll
While your mom was signing the letter
Letting you out on parole?
Insist your sister stays the right side of town
Not rocking to some guy’s beat
But she wants to loosen off his frown, somehow
Rocking in his back seat
Didn’t you know any better?
Did you never learn to rock and roll
While your mom was signing that letter
Letting you out on parole?
When the summer comes around
The wind blows as hard if you let her
A Northern boy ought to know better
When the chill wind steels through the canyon
Written and performed by Dave Bradley on Martin acoustic guitar and vocals.
For those who enjoy such details, I played the guitar with the capo (fret 4) fairly high up to give it a bit of a “tenor” guitar feel. Nominally, the main chords in the verses are B6/9 – F#m6/9 – G#m7 – Emaj with an occasional G#m9 and Eadd2. Then the refrain has something simpler Amaj, Emaj and Emaj7, and C#m. You can check out my Classic Chords for proper rock and pop songs over on my Sciencebase Science & Stuff site.
