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Start at the Top

from What It Is by Gary Allison Furr

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about

Came out with this one during the LAST Recession. I guess recession songs are, well, recession proof.

Anyway, the story of this song came from a hillbilly I worked with on I-40 when I was a carpenter building bridges for the new interstate highway in the 1970s. His nickname was "Love," because L-O-V-E was tattooed on one set of knuckles and H-A-T-E was on the other hand. He told us college boys one day, "Boys, I'm going to give you some good advice...."

lyrics

Start at the Top and Work Your Way Down Gary Furr

We were working construction in late July
He’d finished sixth grade and a thousand fights
Love was tattooed on his left hand
Hate on the right, he was a balanced man
One day he said, ‘Boy, here’s my advice
If you want to get ahead in this old life
Always remember what I’m ‘bout to say
When you think you might have lost your way

Chorus:
Start at the top and work your way down,
That’s the way we do it in this old town.
You’re gonna mess up, so don’t mess around--
Start at the top and work your way down

I walked across the platform, got my third degree
The speaker said the world was just waiting for me.
I climbed up the ladder, made it on my own
‘Til the lady on the news said the jobs were gone,
Trillions of dollars vanished today
Where they all went, no one can say.
We’re just rightsizing, try to understand,
What goes up has to come down again.” You got to
Chorus:

Lost my house with a pool and a view
Country club dumped me when I missed my dues
Called my broker to tell him what I’d need,
He said I was broke, but he was broker than me,
I’m sleeping in the Hotel Chevrolet
I’m a fundraiser down by the interstate
My buddy’s advice echoes in my mind
So I wrote it with a marker on my cardboard sign, You got to
Chorus:

I’m telling you once and I’ll tell you again
On the way up better make some friends
A winning streak brings the crowds around
They follow you up, but they let you down,
So, son, I’m going to give you my best advice
If you want to get ahead in this old life
Always remember what I’m ‘bout to say
When you think you might have lost your way, (you got to)
Chorus:

credits

from What It Is, released July 31, 2020
Gary Allison Furr--Guitars, vocals and bass
Jim Dooley--drum tracks
Words and Music by Gary Allison Furr BMI
all rights reserved

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Gary Allison Furr Birmingham, Alabama

Dr. Gary Allison Furr has been playing, writing and singing music his whole life. A veteran of lots of bands of the years, he performed with Shades Mountain Air, a Birmingham acoustic-bluegrass band for twenty years .

He has played as both solo artist and with the band at a variety of venues, including colleges and universities, conferences, churches, coffee houses and festivals. ... more

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