Poplar Tunes

GoodTime Charlie's Got The Blues
tunesmith


recording date elvis: thursday 13 december ( 1973 ) ; studio
first release: on audio album good times ( march 1974 )
label: rca victor
catalog number: cpl1 0475

originally by : The Bards


recording date: 1967
originally written by: danny o'keef
catalognumber: par.337
label: parrot


Other release:

1971
Danny O'Keef: good time charlie's got the blues

1972
Danny O'Keef: good time charlie's got the blues




Composer Danny O'Keefe recorded this number on no less than three separate occasions. He probably recorded the first version in 1967, either for the Jerden label, or for Piccadilly, but it was not released; then came a version on the Cotillion label in 1971; finally O'Keefe recorded his hit version for the Signpost label in 1972. In the meantime, however, a relatively unknown group called The Bards, from Moses Lake, Washington, recorded the number and released it in January 1969 on the Jerden label (Jerden 907) and a few months later on the Parrot label (Parrot 45-337).
Elvis did not sing the lines "I got my pills to ease the pain, Can't find a thing to ease my brain." Well, that's what you read everywhere, but according to The Bards' guitarist, Mardi Sheridan, the lines were, in fact, "Got my pills to ease the pain, Can't find a thing to ease the rain."


GoodTime Charlie's Got The Blues
performed by: The Bards



Everybody's gone away
Said they're movin to L.A.
There's not a soul I know around
Everybody's leavin' town

Some caught a freight, some caught a plane
Find the sunshine leave the rain
They say this town will waste your time
I guess they're right, it's wasting mine

Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good time Charlie's got the blues

You know my heart keeps tellin' me
You're not a kid at twenty-three
You play around you'll lose your wife
You play too long you'll lose your life

Got my pills to ease the pain
Can’t find a thing to ease the rain
You know I’d like to settle down
But everybody’s leaving town

Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good time Charlie's got the blues




Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues
performed by: Elvis Presley



Everybody's gone away
Said they're movin to L.A.
There's not a soul I know around
Everybody's leavin' town

Some caught a freight, some caught a plane
Find the sunshine leave the rain
They said this town will waste your time
I guess they're right, it's wasting mine

Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good time Charlie's got the blues
Good time Charlie's got the blues

( instrumental )

You know my heart keeps tellin' me
You're not a kid at thirty-three
You play around you'll lose your wife
You play too long you'll lose your life

Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good time Charlie's got the blues
Good time Charlie's got the blues
Good time Charlie's got the blues

( instrumental )

Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good time Charlie's got the blues
Good time Charlie's got the blues
Good time Charlie's got the blues

na na na na na na na