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Click on the ‘Play’ button above to hear the song as you read the lyrics via the link below. If the player doesn’t start straight away, wait and then press the ‘Play’ button again.
Alternatively, you can listen to the song Sam Shepard on Bandcamp HERE
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Sam Shepard by ‘Les Paul’s’ (The Paul’s) from our album The Chelsea Hotel#3
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Watch the video promo of Sam Shepard HERE
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download Sam Shepard at all download stores HERE and on Bandcamp HERE
download our album The Chelsea Hotel#3 at download stores HERE
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Watch the video of my June 2025 trip to the New York Chelsea Hotel HERE
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Sam Shepard lyrics
Was born near Chicago and them old blues tunes
Would later die under that old Kentucky moon
They said he was the greatest playwright of his time
They say he wrote about fifty eight or fifty nine
He worked on a ranch in his teens
And studied to be a vet or so it seemed
Then worked as a busboy at the Village Gate
In the house next door Dylan was writing songs that would soon become great
Yeah, Sam you were the man
Come on, play it again Sam
Play it again Sam
At The Chelsea, Patti fell outta the arms of gay Robert into the bed of Sam
For one whole year Sam would be her man
At The Chelsea they lived in Room 411
Although Sam was still married with a wife and son
They were both from Illinois and around
They both shared lots of common ground
They were both unique artists with style and flair
Soon they’d become well known for their different art everywhere
They both got matching lightning-bolt tattoos
Patti didn’t know that Sam she would soon lose
They both wrote the play ‘Cowboy Mouth’ together
But their passion for each other couldn’t last forever
Yeah, Sam you were the man
Come on, play it again Sam
Play it again Sam
Later Patti married a guitar player called Fred
Settling down and Just Kids were in her head
They’d got away from that Chelsea Hotel scene
Artists can be self-righteous, cruel and mean
After Bob’s friends had joined Bob on his Rolling Thunder Revue
Bob wanted a scriptwriter so he asked Sam to join them too
Sam had played before with a band on the drums
No matter what he did Sam sure liked to have fun
So Bob had asked Sam to write a script for the show
But the actors were always high on drink and on snow
Joni was paid in fairy dust for her part
Sam knew this scene wasn’t for him and soon he would depart
Sam and Joni had became lovers on Bob’s tour
For Sam, one woman wasn’t enough he wanted more
He never felt remorse or felt shame
Joni wrote about Sam on her album with that Arabic name
Yeah, Sam you were the man
Come on, play it again Sam
Play it again Sam
Sam’s plays were directed by Jacques Levy
Who’d wrote Desire with Bob, then Bob recorded with Bette
With Bob their song Brownsville Girl they later made
About Gregory Peck a gunfighter made in the shade
Sam was in The Right Stuff and almost won top prize
But the Oscar went to Jack which was no great surprise
When the show had left town and Sam had moved on
He found Jessica and for 27 years they’d be as one
Yeah, Sam you were the man
Come on, play it again Sam
Play it again Sam
In the end Sam was without a spouse and was alone
Surrounded by his children at his Kentucky home
He said he still had so much that needed to be done
He achieved so much but died relatively young
Yeah, Sam you were the man
Come on, play it again Sam
Play it again Sam
Play it again Sam
Play it again Sam
Music composed and performed by Paul Odiase BMI No. 1252265 (Switzerland)
Song lyrics by Paul Robert Thomas PRS No. 497904008 (London)
PRS Tunecode 815797GM
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