Lay for the Day 2nd October

1928: the harmonica player DeFord Bailey, a star of the Grand Ole Opry show broadcast by Nashville radio station WSM, cuts eight sides for the Victor record label. The previous year, Bailey had had an unproductive session with Columbia in Atlanta, and a more successful one for Brunswick in New York. His 1928 session was the first recording session to be held in Nashville, a distant foreshadowing of its ascendancy as “Music City USA”.

DeFord Bailey was swindled out of most of the earnings for his records, and steered clear of them thereafter. The 1928 session was the last he took part in. He had joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1925 (before it was even named – the programme was then called Barn Dance) and he performed on it for 16 years, till he was dismissed in 1941. He spent the rest of his life running a shoeshine business, until his death on 2nd July 1982 at the age of 83.

This is our idea of a Nashville song, if there is such a thing. And if somebody wants to make it one, you’re welcome to get in touch.

Looking at the Rose (Through World-Coloured Glasses)

Romance comes along,
Romance fades,
Sun comes up full strong
And then it shades
Into the night,
The failing light.

Start out full of hope,
Wind up frozen.
Eyes that start wide open
End up closed.

Everything that grows,
I’ve been thinking how it passes.
I’ve been looking at the rose
Through world-coloured glasses.

Babies learn to smile
And then to lie.
Laugh a little while,
Soon you’ll cry
Because you won
A love that’s gone.

Start out for the east,
End gone west.
Those that know the least,
They know the best.

Everything that grows,
I’ve been thinking how it passes.
I’ve been looking at the rose
Through world-coloured glasses.

Take them off,
Oh take them off me.
Must be time to see
Through to eternity,
Clear through to eternity.

Everything that grows,
I’ve been thinking how it passes.
I’ve been looking at the rose
Through world-coloured glasses.

Take them off,
Oh take them off me
And I will believe
Really how this world can be,
Really how this world can be.

See, you are the rose.
You are the rose.

Words and music by The Children

The Lay Reader: an archive of the poetic calendar