Island hopping man,
If you keep talking
I will have to shut you down.
If you keep lying so vividly
I will have to believe you.
If you keep playing the blues like that
On my guitar
With those crazy fingers
I will have to ask you
Where you learned to play
And I think I know what your answer will be:
That you learned from the wind and the ocean
And from the countless islands you have befriended:
The island of loneliness
The island of hungry men,
The island called invisible,
Floating islands,
Islands of black beaches,
Islands of honky tonk,
Corral islands,
Crescent islands with pink sand,
Islands of the filthy rich,
Islands of the blessed poor.
Even an island within an island
Where a barefooted king
Offered you his daughter
But you could no more stay there
Then you can stay anywhere.
Island hopping man says:
Eat raw for a better world
Like the Rastafarians.
Eat raw and it will change you.
Sooner or later
You will see, you will see.
.............
We just got home from our week on Mohegan (island in ME). The first person I met after stepping off the ferry was a guy (roughly my age) who started up a conversation upon seeing my guitar. I am ostensibly a harp (mouth harp) player always on the lookout for folks who are creative on guitar in any genre (but preferably jazz, blues or ragtime) and if classic folk and rock is their bag, that can be fun too for a while. I'm not too particular but enjoy exploring , sharing and producing new sounds. So when I meet someone who is a little more experimental and improvisational and all over the frets, I am happy to hand over my guitar and pull out my harps. So, I'll call him Jonathan, was this sort of guy. Not only was he all over the frets, but he was also from all over the world, a self-described island hopper. His politics kind of alienated me when he got to talking but musically we got along fine.
(Article changed on Sep 28, 2022 at 2:47 PM EDT)