… pero puedo oír el sonido
de puertas que golpean y sillas que se pliegan
y ese es el sonido que nunca escucharán

Los músicos tenemos una tendencia natural a dar la chapa con canciones acerca de ser músico: que si la carretera, que si somos taaaan sensibles porque escribimos canciones, etc. (si vuelvo a escuchar una vez más a Fito cantar eso de “porque escribo igual que sangro” creo que me corto las venas con migra de pan duro).

Resulta raro, pues, encontrar buenas canciones que traten estos temas de forma que a alguien le importe más de medio rábano la historia que se cuenta.

“The Load Out”, la joya de Jackson Browne que precede a su archiconocida versión de “Stay”, es uno de los pocos ejemplos que me vienen a la memoria. Un músico agradecido humildemente a su público, que confiesa que le encanta tocar, da una pequeña visión de lo que hay cuando acaba el espectáculo… ¡y no se queja de nada! 

Puedes verlo y escucharlo este fabuloso vídeo de estas dos canciones. Me alegro de poner cara por fin a esa fantástica corista, Rosemary Butler; y de poder ver al genial David Lindley dándole la inesperada réplica vocal. Por cierto, el solo de slide que se marca en la versión publicada en “Running On Empty” es increíble, de mis favoritos de todos los tiempos.

Vídeo

Letra

Now the seats are all empty
Let the roadies take the stage
Pack it up and tear it down
They’re the first to come and the last to leave
Working for that minimum wage
They’ll set it up in another town
Tonight the people were so fine
They waited there in line
And when they got up on their feet they made the show
And that was sweet but I can hear the sound
Of slamming doors and folding chairs
And that’s a sound they’ll never know
Now roll them cases out and lift them amps
Haul them trusses down and get’em up them ramps
‘Cause when it comes to moving me
You know you guys are the champs
But when that last guitar’s been packed away
You know I still want to play
So just make sure you got it all set to go
Before you come for this piano

But the band’s on the bus
And they’re waiting to go
We’ve got to drive all night and do a show in Chicago
or Detroit, I don’t know
We do so many shows in a row
And these towns all look the same
We just pass the time in our hotel rooms
And wander ’round backstage
Till those lights come up and we hear that crowd
And we remember why we came

Now we got country and western on the bus, R&B
We got disco in eight tracks and cassettes in stereo
And we’ve got rural scenes & magazines
We’ve got truckers on the CB
We’ve got Richard Pryor on the video
And we got time to think of the ones we love
While the miles roll away
But the only time that seems too short
Is the time that we get to play
People you’ve got the power over what we do
You can sit there and wait or you can pull us through
Come along, sing the song
You know that you can’t go wrong
‘Cause when that morning sun comes beating down
You’re going to wake up in your town
But we’ll be scheduled to appear
A thousand miles away from here

People stay just a little bit longer
We want to play just a little bit longer
Now the promoter don’t mind
And the union don’t mind
If we take a little time
And we leave it all behind and sing
One more song
I want you stay just a little bit longer
Please, please, please
Say you will, say you will