Talk To Me Fiddle

If this old fiddle could talk, if this old fiddle could sing
Man if this old fiddle could only talk it could tell
You some wondrous things, talk to me fiddle

Tell me about when you came across the sea
In the hands of a Jewish immigrant who was
Longing to be free, you were part of his life
For forty years through times both lean and fat
And he raised his family and lived out his days
In a New York tenement flat, talk to me fiddle

Talk to me fiddle, tell me about how that Cajun
Fiddlin' man found you in a pawn shop and took
You back down to the Louisiana bayou land
You knew his wife and you knew his kids
And you watched his family grow and you
Played your heart out Cajun style at the Louisiana Fais Do Do

Then a big shot Yankee gambler found you
Down in New Orleans and took you up the
River on the Mississippi Queen, then there
Came the day that you were all that he had left to lose
And a black man won you in a poker game
And taught you how to play the blues, cry for me fiddle

Then a young man from the mountains of Kentucky came along
And he bought you for a dollar took you all away back home
He gave you to his grandpa on his golden wedding day
And people had come from miles around just to hear the old man play
Dance for them fiddle

Then a hobo from Biloxi found you living in the rain
And he got himself a free ride on a west-bound cattle train
You got off in Texas where they play that western swing
Where the people do the two-step and old Bob Wills was the king
Swing for me fiddle

If this old fiddle could talk if this old fiddle could sing
Man if this old fiddle could only talk it could tell
You some wondrous things, you've been bouncing around America
From sea to shining sea now your traveling days are over fiddle
'Cause you belong to me