Jerry Jeff Walker - To the Artist lyrics

Jerry Jeff Walker This song is a letter sung to a special friend of mine One who stopped his singing somewhere back along the line I wondered if he'd had enough of the rip-offs and the jive Or did he sing his song one night and lose the will to write It never was a business deal, this thing with your guitar It always seemed more a dance done deep inside your heart Tonight I wonder if it's true, like we felt it at the start That an artist truly does it best when he does it from the heart It seems to be much more than an art when the art you sell is you Be careful how you play the game or else the game plays you In the old days we'd stay up nights and laugh until we cried You said songs don't belong to us we just bring some thoughts to light The rule of thumb is never give the truth away to rhyme And a man can't lie when he tries to sing it betrays him every time We really write to understand more about ourselves And if we're lucky maybe then we touch someone else Well, I just got back from Europe friend where they hung on every word It made me feel a little better about my chosen line of work They asked me if I knew you wrote a lot these days I told 'em all I know is that you rarely ever play We start out singing what we like and just give it all away And wind up hating what we play and sit begging to be paid So let me say in closing friend, I want you to know I understand how hard it was to let your music go An artist must decide which parts to leave in and take out And if he no longer plays the game that's what the game's about