Mr. Bojangles - guitar chords and comments

Lyrics without distraction HERE

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878 - 1949) was a famous black actor and tap dancer, reaching the peak of his carrier during the 1930ies, and he is *not* the origin of this song. Some old street performer grabbed Robinson's artist name as a nick to hide his real identity from the police, and ended up in the same cell in New Orleans as Jerry Jeff Walker, when he was swept off the street in -65 for being doped and rude. At that time, JJW still used his birth name Ronald Clyde Crosby. The song describes word by word that weekend they accidentally spent together.   JJW released it himself in 1968, but his friend Allen Wayne Damron was first to cut it, one year in advance. It soon became a crossover standard, and I've heard it from artists as different as Bob Dylan via Radka Toneff to Sammy Davies Jr.   The meaning of "Bojangles" is discussed, but mainly meant to be somebody "happy-go-lucky". The old man in New Oreans' identity is as far as I know never been revealed. And who cares?

G            Bm                  Em          ...Em7
I knew a man Bojangles and he'd dance for you
C  C9         D  ...D7
in worn out shoes
G               Bm                Em       ...Em7
silver hair and ragged shirt and baggy pants
C          C9         D  ...D7
he did the old soft shoe
Em            B7                 Em
he jumped so high  he jumped so high
A7                       D  ...D7
then he'd lightly touch down

Em     Bm
Mr. Bojangles
Em     Bm
Mr. Bojangles
Em     D
Mr. Bojangles
D6       G
come on dance"