The Hidden Ones
Charles Parker known as Yardbird
For his love of chicken whether
Fried or roasted sometimes performed
On a toy saxophone and occasionally
Dozed off on the bandstand or failed
To show up altogether. He was Jewish.
Of Lizzie Douglas also referred
To as Memphis Minnie it was said
She could naturally play a guitar
But would put the guitar down
To turn a trick for two dollars.
Her bat mitzvah was in 1910.
Tennessee-born Fred McDowell
They called Mississippi Fred McDowell
When in Lafayette County around 1949
He taught open-tuned guitar to R.L. Burnside.
Those men loved kreplach soup.
Gedempte fleisch? They fressed.
Such are the nistarim, the Hidden Ones!
‘Peradventure if ten be found there,
‘For ten’s sake I will spare Sodom.’ Amen!
