The Big Noise of Storyville

Verse 1

Silver bell

High

Hot

Hard brass

Shaking the cypress

Waking the dead

Rough hands

He held that horn like a hatchet

Verse 2

Dust

Mud

River air

Lincoln Park

Screaming the blues

Tearing the sheet music

No ink

Just the spit and the spirit

Chorus

I thought I heard him say

I thought I heard him say

King Bolden

King Bolden

Bring your bucket

Bring your bucket

The Big Noise is coming

The Big Noise is coming

Post-Chorus

Oh King

Oh King

Blow it down

Blow it down

Verse 3

Sweat

Stale beer

Funky Butt Hall

Four walls bulging

One man

A mile away they heard him

They heard him

They felt the ground cracking

Iron lip

Bent the notes until they bled

Verse 4

Ghost

Gone

Empty chair

Jackson walls

Quiet as a grave

No black wax

No needle

Just the wind in the reeds

Just the story

The king who never spoke to a machine

Chorus

I thought I heard him say

I thought I heard him say

King Bolden

King Bolden

Bring your bucket

Bring your bucket

The Big Noise is coming

The Big Noise is coming

Bridge

He played for the saints

He played for the sinners

He played for the ghosts

Church hymns

Field hollers

Ragtime fire

The first one

The loud one

The lost one

Chorus

I thought I heard him say

I thought I heard him say

King Bolden

King Bolden

Bring your bucket

Bring your bucket

The Big Noise is coming

The Big Noise is coming

Post-Chorus

Oh King

Oh King

Blow it down

Blow it down

Outro

I thought I heard

I thought I heard

Silence

Nothing but the river

Nothing but the myth

Big Noise

Gone away