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Estella Ray

from Loose Change by Lance Taylor

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about

Inspired by a visit to some bar in Cape May, NJ with a 78 year old bartender named Estella and a drunk customer named Ray who babbled on about a giant fish he was going to catch out on the Delaware Bay in the summer of 2000....the whole scene was stuck in my head for months and I later wrote this song in January of 2001 in Morgantown, West Virginia and the original tracks were recorded there in a hotel room...drums were added later back in Glen Burnie, Maryland...

lyrics

Estella now she's about 78, and I guess for all she's been through
she looks great...35 years behind the bar...in this smoky sea-side town
I guess you could say I spent a fair share of my time here
watchin' grey clouds disappear..Johnny and Ray...and no day is ever
different than before..'cept for strangers coming through the door

Summer sit and watch, ol' boats rollin' in, sailors and travelers
pretty clothes and all..well they'll sit and get a bite to eat and they'll drink the whole bar, but they'll be gone before last call
i'll be here come last call....

Well look here now, here comes four more
Tall one sits next to John who's always drinking Coors
aw shit man, there goes Ray walking by...
good Estella she can see him out the corner of her eye

Well Ray he says "listen here now, I got a story to tell, and I swear it's true though you may not know it well..see there's this big ol' fish he swims out on the bay"... then he turns and he walks away...orders one more round...

"I'm gonna catch that fish one day, as soon as I get off my stool
even a guy like me has still got dreams
I still not haven't quite yet drank them all away, I know there must be something left I swear i'm gonna catch that fish some day..."

And with those words ol' Ray hit the floor... somehow he still gets up and says "just one more"... Estella well she saw that coming from afar
says, "now Ray tell me where the hell do you think you are?
I may be 78 but it's still my bar"...oh yeah..

"I could of been a writer, fortune and fame, a million books for a million adventures, too wild to tame
and there's a night I dream of a fish and i'm gonna reel him in
leave for good this sleepy sea-side town and catch the ferry to Maryland...catch the ferry to... Maryland..."

"And who knows maybe I'll meet a princess there
and without shame i'll be proud for the first time to give my name
and together we'll fly on down to Chicoteague..
hold tight hold on tight to the horse's mane...
hold tight hold on tight to the horse's mane...
hold tight hold on tight to the horse's mane...

Still I know that ol' lady she must dream
about puttin' her feet up sometimes
she's lookin' distant out the window, I can tell she's thiking
but then she stops to wonder just then, who'd look after my boys?
tell me who? last call, i'll see y'all tomorrow...night....

credits

from Loose Change, released March 29, 2016
Lance Taylor guitar, vocals and harmonica
Eric Collins on bass, lead guitar and ebow guitar
Greg Binney on drums

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Lance Taylor Key West, Florida

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