Lyrics
I was a, a boy saxophonist, and
And it all began in uh, in Los Angeles
And I got an opportunity to uh
To play with Lionel Hampton's uh, new orchestra
At that time new because he had just, he just left Benny Goodman
And he was a very, very big popular name in the
In the states, in the music world
And one afternoon, I got a call, a telephone call
And a person said, you know, "This is Dexter Gordon?" I said, "Yes"
He said, "Well, this is Marshall Royal," you know
And um, 'cause at, at this time I think I was about 17, you know
And I had only been playing a few years and uh
I said, "Marshall Royal, he said
Why in the world is he calling me?" You know
He wasn't so nationally or internationally known at that time
But he was a very big name in Los Angeles, you know
One of the local heroes and so forth
So anyway, uh, he said, you know
"How would you like to uh, join Lionel Hampton's new orchestra?" You know
I said, "This couldn't be Marshall Royal"
It must be uh, you know, somebody's
One of my friends, you know, putting me on or something
But so, and I said, "Who is this?"
He said, "No, this is Marshall, you know, I'm serious business"
I said, "Okay"
So he said, "Come down to Ham's house tonight and uh
We'll uh, have a little session and you know, talk about it," yeah
So I said, "Okay," so and I went down to Ham's house
And uh, some of the guys in the band were there
Verner Allen, Sir Charles Thompson and Leon, Lester's brother
Playing drums and um, and Lionel, and Marshall
So we all, we started playing, jamming, you know
We played for a little while, Lionel asked me
Said, "Well, Gates, would you like to, would you like to join the band?"
You know, so I said, "Yeah, man, I'm there for it"
So about three days later we, we left, you know
And at the time, I hadn't even finished school, you know
I just took off, it was on a Christmas occasion
I think it was December, the 23rd of, pretty sure that's the accurate date
For me it was like, you know, dreamland, you know
It's fantastic, beautiful, and that's where I got all my uh
Most of my schooling, that was my finishing school, you know
Of course, um, I kept expecting them to send me home every night
You know, he should take it back, you know
Go home and study for a couple more years and then maybe, you know
But they uh, had a little faith in me, so after a few months
Well, it started to, it started to get together, you know
And it was all very new to me
Because I was from uh, California, from Los Angeles, and uh
Uh, they never had any outright segregation, uh, in California, you know
But in fact, in the first place we went was to uh
Fort Worth, Texas, you know
So uh, I remember in every, in every southern town
When we get to, into the town, you know
The bus driver would ask, "Where are the railroad tracks?"
And then somebody would say
"Well, the rail trail, the railroad tracks are over there"
So then we knew where we were going, you know
Because we had to go into the uh
Into the black section, into the ghetto, you know
Because this is where we would be living and
And perhaps playing, you know
Not necessarily playing, play all over
But this is where we would be quartered, you know, yeah
And it all began in uh, in Los Angeles
And I got an opportunity to uh
To play with Lionel Hampton's uh, new orchestra
At that time new because he had just, he just left Benny Goodman
And he was a very, very big popular name in the
In the states, in the music world
And one afternoon, I got a call, a telephone call
And a person said, you know, "This is Dexter Gordon?" I said, "Yes"
He said, "Well, this is Marshall Royal," you know
And um, 'cause at, at this time I think I was about 17, you know
And I had only been playing a few years and uh
I said, "Marshall Royal, he said
Why in the world is he calling me?" You know
He wasn't so nationally or internationally known at that time
But he was a very big name in Los Angeles, you know
One of the local heroes and so forth
So anyway, uh, he said, you know
"How would you like to uh, join Lionel Hampton's new orchestra?" You know
I said, "This couldn't be Marshall Royal"
It must be uh, you know, somebody's
One of my friends, you know, putting me on or something
But so, and I said, "Who is this?"
He said, "No, this is Marshall, you know, I'm serious business"
I said, "Okay"
So he said, "Come down to Ham's house tonight and uh
We'll uh, have a little session and you know, talk about it," yeah
So I said, "Okay," so and I went down to Ham's house
And uh, some of the guys in the band were there
Verner Allen, Sir Charles Thompson and Leon, Lester's brother
Playing drums and um, and Lionel, and Marshall
So we all, we started playing, jamming, you know
We played for a little while, Lionel asked me
Said, "Well, Gates, would you like to, would you like to join the band?"
You know, so I said, "Yeah, man, I'm there for it"
So about three days later we, we left, you know
And at the time, I hadn't even finished school, you know
I just took off, it was on a Christmas occasion
I think it was December, the 23rd of, pretty sure that's the accurate date
For me it was like, you know, dreamland, you know
It's fantastic, beautiful, and that's where I got all my uh
Most of my schooling, that was my finishing school, you know
Of course, um, I kept expecting them to send me home every night
You know, he should take it back, you know
Go home and study for a couple more years and then maybe, you know
But they uh, had a little faith in me, so after a few months
Well, it started to, it started to get together, you know
And it was all very new to me
Because I was from uh, California, from Los Angeles, and uh
Uh, they never had any outright segregation, uh, in California, you know
But in fact, in the first place we went was to uh
Fort Worth, Texas, you know
So uh, I remember in every, in every southern town
When we get to, into the town, you know
The bus driver would ask, "Where are the railroad tracks?"
And then somebody would say
"Well, the rail trail, the railroad tracks are over there"
So then we knew where we were going, you know
Because we had to go into the uh
Into the black section, into the ghetto, you know
Because this is where we would be living and
And perhaps playing, you know
Not necessarily playing, play all over
But this is where we would be quartered, you know, yeah
