The Gift - Jerry Jeff Walker
In a boarding house,
I'd lay upstairs,
And dream of how I'd live someday
Downstairs there sat,
A man who had
A guitar he never learned to play
For my thirteenth birthday,
Grandma bought the guitar
Told me I should learn how to play
And the gift she gave me changed me
'Cause the music is the main thing,
That got me to this point here today
And I was lucky, 'cause I used her gift
To get in touch with how to live
And looking back I now realize,
Music changed my life
Just out of school,
I had no clue
Of what it was I'd like to do
I only know,
The open road
Was the way I chose to pass on through
I took that guitar with me,
Down the lonesome highway
And I began my search for a song
And somewhere in the distance,
The music and the mystery
Of how I would live come along
And I was lucky, 'cause I used her gift
To get in touch with how to live
That music saved my life,
Music became my life
As time went by,
I found that I
Could climb up on the stage and sing
But when I sang,
The songs I wrote
It became a very special thing
But songs to me were personal
And the business side just killed me
And I withdrew inside my shell
With the contracts and the lawsuits
I started heavy drinking,
'Til I finally lost touch with myself
[Bridge]
I guess playing music
For money brought problems
That I didn't face very well
Being self-taught
Gave me nothing to lean on
I had to look in myself
I took a year off
And did some fasting
Just to clean the cobwebs out
And I went back
To Grandma's guitar
Just to hear a simple sound
When I looked around me,
I saw my loving family
And a home we had built on a hill
I discoverd the music
Had led me to the one place
Where my heart and soul
Are re-filled
And I was lucky, 'cause I used her gift
To get in touch with how to live
Music saved my life,
Yeah, music really saved my life
Yes, music really saved my life