During the late 1950s, Crosby was a member of a local Oneonta teen band called The Tones. The band traveled to Philadelphia to audition for Dick Clark's "American Bandstand", but were turned down. Members of the band found Dick Clark's house and were able to get a recommendation to audition at New York City's Baton Records through the company's lead producer Sol Rabinowitz. The band was given a recording contract, but the studio wanted a quintet backed by studio musicians, which left Crosby and another member out of their recordings.
After high school, Crosby joined the National Guard, but his thirst for adventure led him to go AWOL and roam the country busking for a living in areas like New Orleans, Texas, Florida, and New York. He played mostly ukulele until Harriet Ottenheimer, one of the founders of The Quorum, got him settled on a guitar in 1963. He adopted his stage name "Jerry Jeff Walker" in 1966. He spent his early folk music days in Greenwich Village in the mid 1960s. He co-founded a band with Bob Bruno in the late 1960s called Circus Maximus that put out two albums one with the popular west coast hit "Wind", but Bruno's interest in jazz apparently diverged from Walker's interest in folk music. Walker thus resumed his solo career and recorded the seminal album "Mr. Bojangles" with the help of David Bromberg and other influential Atlantic recording artists. He settled in Austin, Texas, in the 1970s associating mainly with the country-rock outlaw scene that included artists such as Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Waylon Jennings, and Townes Van Zandt.
"Mr. Bojangles" (written by Walker) is perhaps his most well-known and most-often covered song. It was about an obscure alcoholic but talented tap-dancing drifter, (not the famous stage and movie dancer Bill Robinson, as usually assumed). Bojangles is thought to have been a folk character who entertained informally in the south of the US and California, and some say he might have been one of the most gifted natural dancers ever. Authentic reports of him exist from the 1920s through about 1965. Artists from Nina Simone to Bob Dylan, Philip Glass to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, have covered the song. Walker has also recorded songs written by others such as "LA Freeway" (Guy Clark), and "Up Against the Wall Red Neck Mother" (Ray Wylie Hubbard).
A string of records for MCA and Elektra followed Jerry Jeff's move to Austin, before he gave up on the mainstream music business and formed his own independent record label. Tried & True Music was founded in 1986, with his wife Susan as President and manager. Susan also founded Goodknight Music as his management company and Tried & True Artists for his bookings. A series of increasingly autobiographical records followed under the Tried & True imprint. Tried & True also sells his autobiography called "Gypsy Songman". In 2004, Jerry Jeff released his first DVD of songs from his past as performed in an intimate setting in Austin, TX.
He interpreted the songs of others like Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark, Keith Sykes, Paul Siebel, Bob Dylan, Todd Snider and even a rodeo clown named Billy Jim Baker.
His son, Django Walker, is also a musician. In addition to his residence in Austin, Walker had a retreat on Ambergris Caye in Belize where he recorded his "Cowboy Boots and Bathing Suits" album in 1998.
Members of his band varied over the years. The Lost Gonzo Band and the Gonzo Compadres have backed him in the past. Key members of his band included Craig Hillis - guitarist and arranger on Viva Terlingua, John Inmon, Freddy Krc, Gary P. Nunn, Bob Livingston, Bobby Rambo, Mitch Watkins, Steve Samuel, David Bromberg and others.
Those Were The Days
Jerry Jeff Walker Lyrics
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To get to where we were going, you could read us like a book
Our nights were hot, filled with a lot of lovers and dreams and songs
And mornings mostly found us in places we did not belong
But those were the days (those were the days)
Man, those were the days (those were the days)
We listened to the songs Bob Dylan wrote
We forgot to eat, we forgot to sleep
Searching for the perfect line
So here's to the good old days, baby, one more time
I remember Jimmy saying: if he had two blues and a beer
He might get some sleep tonight, give his head a chance to clear
I reminded him of an old girlfriend singing at a bar called Slim's
And I recall him doing lot's of things that night
But sleeping wasn't one of them
But those were the days (those were the days)
Man, those were the days (those were the days)
We learned all the songs the Beatles sang
We even tried Purple Haze
We forgot to eat, we forgot to sleep
Searching for the perfect rhyme
So here's to the good old days, baby, one more time
We were wild and young and willing; we still are in some ways
Every now and then we still have one of them good old days
And it makes me proud when I think out loud
About lovers and dreams and songs
And how it always kept me going, and the best ones are never gone
But those were the days (those were the days)
Man, those were the days (those were the days)
We learned all the songs by Hank and Lefty
There must have been a thousand ways
We forgot to eat, we forgot to sleep
And all but the very best lines
And even a few of those from time to time
But those were the days (those were the days)
Man, those were the days (those were the days)
So here's to the good old days, baby, one more time
The lyrics of Jerry Jeff Walker's song "Those Were the Days" are about reminiscing on the wild, adventurous days of youth. The singer is looking back on a time when they were willing to give up anything to achieve their goals, and their nights were filled with love, dreams, and music. They were so absorbed in their passions that they forgot about mundane things like eating and sleeping. They listened to Bob Dylan's songs in amazement, tried Purple Haze, and learned all the songs by Hank and Lefty. They spent time in places they didn't belong, and had experiences that they would always remember. The singer and his friends still cherish those memories and occasionally have moments that remind them of those "good old days".
Line by Line Meaning
We were wild and young and willing to give up anything it took
To get to where we were going, you could read us like a book
We were young and fearless, willing to give up our comfort to achieve our goals. Our desires were so transparent that they could be easily read by others.
Our nights were hot, filled with a lot of lovers and dreams and songs
And mornings mostly found us in places we did not belong
Our nights were filled with passion, creativity, and music, but we often woke up in unfamiliar places, feeling lost and disoriented.
But those were the days (those were the days)
Man, those were the days (those were the days)
We listened to the songs Bob Dylan wrote
We sat there stoned and amazed
We forgot to eat, we forgot to sleep
Searching for the perfect line
So here's to the good old days, baby, one more time
Those days were filled with awe-inspiring moments when we listened to Bob Dylan's music, lost in a haze of marijuana smoke. We were so absorbed in our art that we ignored our basic needs, obsessed with creating the perfect masterpiece.
I remember Jimmy saying: if he had two blues and a beer
He might get some sleep tonight, give his head a chance to clear
I reminded him of an old girlfriend singing at a bar called Slim's
And I recall him doing lot's of things that night
But sleeping wasn't one of them
I recall Jimmy saying that he needed some relaxants to sleep, but I reminded him of a night when he was too busy doing a lot of things with his old girlfriend, he didn't need to rest.
We learned all the songs the Beatles sang
We even tried Purple Haze
We forgot to eat, we forgot to sleep
Searching for the perfect rhyme
So here's to the good old days, baby, one more time
We were dedicated to learning and playing every song that the Beatles wrote, and we even experimented with psychedelic drugs like LSD. We were obsessed with creating the perfect piece of music, fuelled by the passion for our art.
We were wild and young and willing; we still are in some ways
Every now and then we still have one of them good old days
And it makes me proud when I think out loud
About lovers and dreams and songs
And how it always kept me going, and the best ones are never gone
Even though we have matured, we still have a part of us that is wild and adventurous. Occasionally we have days like the old days that we cherish. It fills me with pride when I think about the love, dreams, and music that have always inspired me, and the best ones are timeless.
We learned all the songs by Hank and Lefty
There must have been a thousand ways
We forgot to eat, we forgot to sleep
And all but the very best lines
And even a few of those from time to time
We dedicated ourselves to mastering all the songs by the legendary Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzel. With so many techniques to master, we neglected our basic needs, honing only the very best lines in our art, and occasionally including the best ones.
So here's to the good old days, baby, one more time
Let's raise a glass to those unforgettable days, reminiscing those memories one more time.
Lyrics © CARLIN AMERICA INC, KEITH SYKES MUSIC
Written by: KEITH SYKES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind