2:05:02
But Violet...
2:05:08
"The vibrant Violet of song,"
they billed her at the Apollo.
2:05:15
This is the chick I was playing behind
when I found my style.
2:05:19
I was just backing her up.
I didn't even have a regular gig.
2:05:22
I was just washing dishes
and jamming after hours.
2:05:31
Of course that's before I became...
2:05:33
...the titanic commercial success
that you see sitting before you.
2:05:37
That's before I captured the fancy...
2:05:40
...of the adoring public.
2:05:45
But I started playing these little...
2:05:49
...these figures behind her, see?
2:05:53
And they fit with the song...
2:05:56
...but it was like
going inside the melody.
2:06:00
And she says, right on the stage...
2:06:02
...she says:
2:06:04
"Nigger...
2:06:05
... don't be playing that shit
behind me while I'm trying to sing. "
2:06:14
After that, a little later on...
2:06:17
...me and the piano player,
we got together...
2:06:20
...and we were working on "Cherokee".
2:06:23
Now, this was a song that
I had played 10,000 times...
2:06:27
...and I was sick of this song.
2:06:29
But I found this new way...
2:06:31
...of extending the chord changes...
2:06:35
...so it was like a whole new song.
2:06:39
And it still fit.
2:06:41
I've been trying to do this since
they gonged me off the Reno Club.
2:06:46
The bridge of "Cherokee".
2:06:48
That's the bridge I crossed...
2:06:50
...two days before Christmas...
2:06:53
...1939.
2:06:59
What a Christmas present.