It was noon when I stopped in to Bud’s Geauga Corners, that white clapboard tavern at the edge of the county. I brought a couple sandwiches to share with Bud. I handed one to Bud. He smiled and thanked me. “Dave, something unusual just happened. About a half an hour ago an old guy with a guitar came in. He said his name was B.L. Jefferson the 3rd. He said that he knew Randy way back from Basic Training. He said his great grandfather was a blues singer in Texas in the 1920s.”
My jaw dropped. Could it be that this man was the great grandson of Blind Lemon Jefferson, one of the most popular blues recording artists of the 1920s.
“Then what happened,” I asked. “I sent him over to the cemetery. I told him Randy was over there cleaning up graves. He thanked me and went out the door singing ‘…see that my grave is kept clean.”
I said, “That was Blind Lemon’s most famous song.”
It turned out that B.L. Jefferson the 3rd was indeed the great grandson of Lemon Henry
‘Blind Lemon’ Jefferson.
When B.L. got to the cemetery he stopped and leaned on the gate. He looked at the two people edging around a grave. B.L. began to sing in a loud clear voice, “…one kind a favor I’ll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean.”
Randy stood up. It was 50 years since he heard that song. He made a straight line toward the gate yelling, “B.L., is that you?”
Amanda walked up behind them as they were giving each other a warm hug.
The two had been good friends in Basic Training. The other guys in basic teased B.L. because he was always singing, See That My Grave Is Kept Clean. In the midst of the Vietnam War they thought it was a sarcastic song. It wasn’t. It was a lament. Regardless, the guys, especially Randy, loved it.
After Basic they were given different assignments. Randy was sent to Vietnam. The two lost track of each other. They hadn’t seen each other for 50 years. Cemetery cleanup was suspended for the day. They went back to Bud’s. Bud served up the drinks. Randy had his usual diet cola with a slice of lemon. B.L. said, “What are you drinking?” Randy said, “It’s diet cola, it tastes better with a slice of lemon.” B.L. laughed. “I believe I’ll have one of those too,” he said.
B.L. related that after Basic he’d gotten into the Chaplain Corp. Then he too was sent to Vietnam.
B.L. was there for two years, but he never ran into Randy. When he was discharged he became an itinerant preacher. He was in Ohio because he had a gig singing and preaching at a church in Youngstown.
B.L. took out his guitar and began the song Randy wanted to hear. They were part way through See That My Grave Is Kept Clean when the door opened. A deputy sheriff walked in. B.L. stopped immediately. The deputy said please don’t stop.” When B.L. and Randy finished the song the deputy said, “They sent me out here to investigate a suspicious person.” The room got quiet. Randy stood up and said,
“Let me introduce you to B. L. Jefferson the 3rd,.” The deputy said, “Are you related to Blind Lemon Jefferson?”
“He’s my great grandpa,” said B.L.
The deputy sat down and said, “I think I’m gonna have to investigate this music for awhile.” B.L. seemed to relax a little. B.L. came from Texas and the deputy sheriffs weren’t always friendly.
“Can you play the Matchbox Blues?” the deputy asked. “When I was in high school my friend and I tried to play country blues.”
So B.L. played and the deputy watched closely how his fingers moved.
B.L. said, “You were watching that little riff I did. Do you want me to show it to you?” “Would you?” said the deputy. B.L. demonstrated it three or four times then handed the guitar to the deputy and said “Here you try.” The deputy worked through it several times until he got it just right.
It was quite an afternoon with B.L. and the deputy trading the guitar back-and-forth and playing tunes. Finally, the deputy said, “I gotta go.” Bud said, “Officer you know we have a lot of suspicious people out here. You ought to bring your guitar out here and investigate anytime you want.”
All this time, I was sitting at the bar watching and thinking what a special place an old tavern out at a crossroads could be.
NOTE: There will be some big events going on next week. There will be no episode of Bud’s Geauga Corners next week.
The opinions expressed are solely those of Dave Partington and of course Bud, Randy, Harold, Larry and the rest of the guys sitting at the bar at Bud’s. Bud’s Geauga Corners is a work of fiction. Bud’s Geauga Corners is paid for solely by Dave Partington.
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