Minnesota
by Jody Alis         

Verse
It was just a year ago, when I left for Minnesota,
Out on the road, I had nothin’ to call my own.
Crazy highways, leading miles to nowhere,
Living my life out on the road.

Found me a friend, in a bar room, down at Louie’s,
He called the shots, like a brother of my own,
We only talked an hour, but I felt that I had known him,
Seems like such a long, long time ago.

Chorus
Summer’s gotta die, cause the wind is blowing colder.
Like old men have to cry, when they know they’re growin’ old.
The times would pass me by when I had found a shoulder,
To lean on.

Verse
We played our tunes in the bad parts of the city.
But all the words would blend in harmony.
Now, bein’ on my own, I was sometimes sad and lonesome,
But to hear him sing would always set me free.

I’ll never know why he left here last November.
Or where he’s been since a year ago today.
I wonder like I do if he ever thinks about me,
Or if I’ll hear him sing our song someday.

Chorus
Summer’s gotta die, cause the wind is blowing colder.
Like old men have to cry, when they know they’re growin’ old.
Oh my, how time can fly when you lose your good shoulder,
To lean on.

La - la -la - la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

Summer’s gotta die cause the wind is blowing colder.
Like old men have to cry, when they know they’re growin’ old.
Oh my, how time does fly when you lose your good shoulder,
To lean on.                                

Back story on the song, in Jody’s words.  Names were edited out:

This song was written for a really good friend of mine at the time.  She was (and I think, still is) a wonderful blues-ee singer and guitar player. I first met her at Charlotte's Web in Rockford, Il. We both ended up working there at various jobs. She would play songs in the back but would not perform for anyone. I had heard she used to sing in a duo and that she had played all of the current hot clubs of the day.

Her music was wonderful. And, as we became friends she told me of the time she had traveled around playing music with her partner, until one day he opted out for something or someone else. It left her in such pain that she had decided she no longer wanted to perform. We eventually talked her back into singing and performing.  This song is about her and her partner of many years ago.

"Old men have to cry when they know they're growin old" - First of all it rhymed the way I needed it to. I was a big Paul Simon fan and I think maybe subconsciously I remembered his song "Old Friends:. It made me sad to think that old men were sitting on a park bench silently (now that I am getting long in the tooth I am not so sure those old men were sad....) But, back then old age seemed a horrible destitute and lonely place to be to me. Well, time changes everything.

So, that's the story.

Jody