The boy wearing gold-rimmed spectacles who had got up from a chair to let us in said, "I'm Jerry Finberg. One leg of his green pajamas hung limp, empty below the knee. When he does play, it is usually at the Bitter Lemon, a coffeehouse that caters mainly to the affluent East Memphis teenaged set, but whose manager, Charley Brown, is a blues enthusiast and occasionally hires Furry between rock-'n'-roll groups.Ĭharley, a tall, blond young man, bent to shake hands with Furry. Nor, since the Depression, has he performed regularly, even in his home town. But Beale Street's great era ended at the close of the 1920s since then, Furry has had only one album of his own - a 1959 Folkways LP. In Chicago, at the old Vocalion studios on Wabash Avenue, he made the first of many recordings he was to make, both for Vocalion and for RCA Victor's Bluebird label. He was also one of the most popular, not only in the saloons and gambling dives of Memphis but in the medicine shows and on the riverboats all along the Mississippi. Handy, was one of the most highly respected musicians. During the heyday of Beale Street, when the great Negro blues artists played and sang in the crowded, evil blocks between Fourth and Main, Furry, a protégé of W.C. There, sitting next to a double bed, holding a guitar, was Furry Lewis. "Got a new way of spellin',' "a quiet, musing voice sang, " 'Memphis, Tennessee.' " A run of guitar chords followed, skeptical, brief " ' Double M, double E, great God, A Y Z.' "Then two closing chords, like a low shout of laughter, and Charley knocked. Charley started to knock, and then we heard the music and waited. We climbed the back stairs of the building on our left and went down a bare, dusty hall to a door with a metal number three over the cloth-patched screen. He pretty when he clean." "Nice dog," he said. The women talking would stop as we came near and then, as we went past, would start again.Ĭlose by, a fat woman was holding a small brown-and-white dog to her bosom. The children's gaze followed us as we walked on. "How are you?" Charley Brown spoke to one of them. There were women sitting on the doorsteps, some of them together, taling, but most of them alone, sitting still, ignoring the heat and the buzzing flies. Filthy rags and broken bottles lay on the concrete pavement. There were two-story brick buildings on both sides, with wooden stairways that shut out all but a thin blue strip of sky. When we came into the alley, the children stopped playing. Writer(s): Matthew Ross Armstrong, Jeffrey Thomas Pardo, Cade ThompsonLyrics powered by been four decades and more since his last hit record, but Furry Lewis - now a stoical Memphis street cleaner - can still make his guitar sing. The eyes of God saw a future When I saw ashes on the ground The eyes of God saw goodness When no good in me was found The eyes of God saw beauty When all I had were scares Now I can see He was leading me Through the valley to His heart No climb′s too steep, no grave's too deep There is no one too far gone Through the highs and lows, there is always hope When you look through the eyes of God If you′re staring at a problem That you've got no strength to solve Remember our God reigns above all things And makes those giants fall No climb's too steep, no grave′s too deep There is no one too far gone Through the highs and lows, there is always hope When you look through the eyes of God Oh-oh-oh From the wound comes the healing (from the wound comes the healing) From the fall comes the grace (from the fall comes the grace) We know nothing is wasted (we know nothing is wasted) God is with us always No climb′s too steep, no grave's too deep There is no one too far gone Through the highs and lows, there is always hope When you look through the eyes of God No climb′s too steep (no climb's too steep) No grave′s too deep (no grave's too deep) There is no one too far gone (there is no one too far gone) Through highs and lows (oh-oh-oh) There is always hope When you look through the eyes of God (when you look through the eyes) When you look through the eyes of God (when you look through the eyes) When you look through the eyes of God
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