The Soul Singer

He gets away with being rude
'Cause everyone’s scared of his quicksilver moods
The soul singer
He’s been around for fifty years
Every crease of his face is a souvenir
The soul singer
He’s seen it all, made every move
Dude’s got next to nothin' left to prove
Climbed to the top, been through the wringer
Ladies and gentlemen, the soul singer!
Likes to grumble, loves to scoff
About all of the cats who ripped him off
The soul singer
His all time favourite song
Is the one about how the world done him wrong
The soul singer
They call him curmudgeon, say he’s a churl
Stories follow him 'round the world
Hear this one, man, a humdinger!
Ladies and gentlemen, the soul singer!
Experts gather wherever he goes
But what’s in his mind none of them knows
The soul singer
He’s done crazy, he’s suffered loss
For the life that he lives he’s paid the cost
The soul singer
Some say he’s the bomb, the very bee’s knees
Poet prince of the high trapeze
The jazzmatazz, the king swinger
Ladies and gentleman, the soul singer!
Spent the best part of three decades
Brooding under a pair of shades
Who’s that masked man? No second stringer
Ladies and gentlemen, the soul singer!
Plays his cards close to his chest
Protecting himself the way he knows best
The soul singer
Deals out only the canniest part
Of the sweet golden music that lives in his heart
The soul singer
The great recordings still remain
From when his genius was uncontained
He’s in there somewhere, that old gunslinger
Ladies and gentleman, the soul singer!
La-la-la-la la-la-la-la
The soul singer
La-la-la-la la-la-la-la
The soul singer