The Gift

Jerry Jeff Walker

In a boarding house, I'd lay upstairs,
And dream of how I'd live someday
Downstairs there sat, a man who had
A guitar he never learned to play

For my thirteenth birthday, grandma bought the guitar
Told me I should learn how to play
And the gift she gave me changed me
'Cause the music is the main thing,
That got me to this point here today

Chorus:
And I was lucky, 'cause I used her gift
To get in touch with how to live
And looking back I now realize, music changed my life

Just out of school, I had no clue
Of what it was I'd like to do
I only know, the open road
Was the way I chose to pass on through

I took that guitar with me, down the lonesome highway
And I began my search for a song
And somewhere in the distance, the music and the mystery
Of how I would live come along

Chorus (Last line different)
That music saved my life, music became my life

As time went by, I found that I
Could climb up on the stage and sing
But when I sang, the songs I wrote
It became a very special thing

But songs to me were personal
And the business side just killed me
And I withdrew inside my shell
With the contracts and the lawsuits
I started heavy drinking,
'Til I finally lost touch with myself

Bridge:
I guess playing music for money brought problems
That I didn't face very well
Being self-taught gave me nothing to lean on
I had to look in myself

I took a year off and did some fasting
Just to clean the cobwebs out
And I went back to Grandma's guitar
Just to hear a simple sound

When I look around me, I saw my loving family
And a home we had built on a hill
I discovered the music had led me to the one place
Where my heart and soul are re-filled

Chorus:
Music saved my life, yeah, music really saved my life
Yes, music really saved my life