From the recording Midnight at the Hilltop Hotel

The album is dedicated to Jimmy Green"spoons". This is what he told me when I was young.

Lyrics

Suffering Blues
Playing any place we can play,
Like an old garage.
Doesn't matter where we're playing
As long as we're playing hard.
And I've played at The Pits before
It's a real fi ne place to start.
Sometimes you gotta play the city streets
And you better play it from the heart.
(Chorus)
You gotta suffer if you wanna play blues.
Sometimes you play for a nickel and a dime.
While you're doing your time.
Old man in the city streets
He's up against the wall.
Said he couldn't stand the heat
And we stood there and watched him fall.
And there's no one to pick him up'
Like you or I, oh lord.
The old man hits the pavement and he's damn sure he's
gonna die.
(Chorus)
You're gonna suffer if you wanna play blues.
Sometimes you play within an inch of your life.
For all the pain and the strife.
(Spoken) Let me tell you a story.
Had a friend who lived to fast
Drinking rotgut whiskey smokin' too much grass
Oh lord it took him away, took him away.
Well they found him on a roadside one night
Tucked tight into a Jim Beam bottle.
Lord it took him away, it took him away.
And he used to tell he'd say "Slutty."
(Chorus)
"You're gonna suffer if you wanna play blues."
Oh lord, sometimes you play within an inch of your life.
For all the pain and the strife.
Mmmm, you're gonna suffer if you wanna play blues.
Oh lord sometimes you play for a nickel and a dime.
Yeah, and sometimes less.
You're gonna suffer if you wanna play blues.
Sometimes you play for a nickel and a dime.
While you're doing your time.
You're gonna suffer if you wanna play blues.
Sometimes you play.
You're gonna suffer if you wanna play blues.
Sometimes you play.
You're gonna suffer if you wanna play blues.
Oh lord sometimes you play for a nickel and a dime.
While you're doing your time.