Chords for BB King and Eric Clapton induct Buddy Guy Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions 2005

[C#] _ _ _ [N] _ _ _ _ _
Good evening ladies [F#] and gentlemen.
_ They usually reserve the place for the oldest and the ugliest
to speak first.
_ _ [F#m] Go ahead.
_ [A#] _ _
_ I [D] don't have a prepared statement about George Guy.
[A#] _ Oh yeah, Buddy
Guy, excuse me.
Buddy Guy has been a friend for a long, long time.
[E] He's been inspiration
for many, many, [F#] many people, including myself.
I never was as handsome as he is. _ _
_ And I think
Lucille liked him better.
_ [A#] _
Anyway, I'd like to say to have known [F#] him as many years as
I have, I should say.
[C#]
I don't want to say how long because I hope to get [F#] married again
one day and _ _ _ _ ladies should know how old I really is.
_ Then I won't make it.
[N] But I've known him
for a long time.
When I first met Buddy Guy, I met him with what I call the Godfather of
the Blues.
You blues lovers should remember the great muddy waters. _
_ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
But I'll say this
[N] and then I'll move over for the handsome one. _ _ _ _
[F#] When it comes to being a great person, _ Buddy
Guy is that.
When it comes to being a great guitarist, _ Buddy Guy is that.
He's a good
friend.
[G] He's been a friend to [F#] most of us.
I didn't have a [N] prepared statement as I said
to [F#m] read, but I think my friend here, and I like to [Em] say this where you can hear me.
[F#] _ _
[E] The
number one rock and roll [G] guitarist today is [A#] my friend _ right behind me, the handsome [F#] one. _ _ _ _
_ Thank you.
[N] And he played blues better than me and most of the others.
_ But _ I think that
Buddy Guy is very close second to him.
My [F#] friend. _
_ [D] Rock and roll.
_ _ _ [F#] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [F#] _ _
Good evening.
It's a great honor and a privilege _ to be able to induct this distinguished gentleman
[C#] into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
A man who means so [N] much to me personally and who
as a musician has given so much to us all.
It also provides me with the perfect opportunity
to say thank you for all the [C#] inspiration he's given me [F#] over the years.
His style of playing
and singing [C#m] and his love and [B] concern for the welfare of the blues has been a great example
for me [A#] and countless others who have the good fortune to share this road.
My first
experience of Buddy's power was when I brought a record called Folk Festival of the Blues,
a little album, [N] a live album recorded in Chicago in the 60s.
And in the company of such great
artists as Otis Spann, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson, Buddy did far
more than just hold his own.
With the greatest respect to all those fabulous masters, in
my humble opinion, he stole the show. _
Coming from the back of the field like a thoroughbred
racehorse, he shone through that genius ensemble, taking no prisoners and letting everyone know
that he was the new dangerous kid on the block.
It is still one of the great _ debut albums
by any artist in any genre and it started me on a relentless mission to find out just
who this man was and what else he had done.
I gradually discovered a wealth of recordings,
mostly on chess records and mostly singles like Stone Crazy, My Time After A While and First Time
I Met The Blues.
_ Serious blues anthems with incredible productions which would often feature
in various members of the chess house band.
Great players like Little Water, the Myers Brothers and
Willie Dixon.
Aside from his own recordings which became musical milestones for me, I also found him
on countless other artist records, people like Otis Rush, Muddy Waters and Little Water.
And no matter how great the song or the performance, my ear would always find him out.
He just
[F#] stood out in the mix, simply by virtue of the originality and vitality of his playing.
[B] And beside the music, another point for me at that time was that he was a younger blues
musician in a field totally dominated by much older guys.
And on that level alone I could
identify with him completely, as well as admiring his skills.
There he was, standing
alike besides the masters of his craft, holding his own and confidently pushing the blues
into the 20th century. _
[N] Buddy personified all that the modern blues man needed to be.
His
technique was and is unique, fuelled by the Delta and the more recent urban contributions
of Robert Lockwood and Muddy Waters.
He combined these ingredients with the sophisticated phrasings
of T-Bone Walker and B.B. King and blasted them all into his own personal vision of what
the blues ought to be saying right now.
And I remember in 65 when he first came to England
and played at the Marquee Club and I was finally able to see him in person.
In the flesh he
was earth shattering.
His style on every level was fantastic.
Doing all [F#] the things [N] we would
later come to associate with Jimi Hendrix, playing with his teeth, his feet and behind
his head he brought the house crashing down.
But beyond all that it was his actual playing
that got through to me.
With only a drummer and a bass player behind him he gave a thundering
performance delivering the blues with finesse and passion in a way I had never heard before.
And incidentally started me thinking that the trio was a pretty good line up for a band.
[F#] _
_ All in all everything about that night was deeply [G#m] profound for me.
The blues was clearly
alive and well and it looked good [F#] too for as well as being the real thing musically
Buddy was a star.
His suit, his hair, his moves, his sunburst strat, everything was
sharp and perfect.
He was for me what Elvis probably was for most other people.
My course
was set and he was my pilot.
Since those early days Buddy has become the hardcore reality
of what the blues is supposed to sound and look like.
Not I think through any calculated
need on his part to be accepted simply because that's the way it is and that's the way he
is.
[N] Buddy has been solid in the heart of the blues for more than 50 years touring, recording
and spreading the word.
And somewhere in that journey we became friends.
Whenever I was
in Chicago I would drop by the club and play or just hang out and shoot the breeze.
Over
the years we played many many times together but it seems like I always forget how powerful
and soulful his thing is until he cranks it up yet again and then it all comes back to
me and I go straight back to the marquee club, my jaw drops and I become a helpless ecstatic
teenager all over again.
For that and for keeping it [A#] true I thank you Buddy Guy and
I welcome you