Steppin' In It: The Ghost of Richard Manuel

Song and lyrics by Joshua Davis and Aaron Allen
Album: Simple Tunes for Troubled Times by Steppin' In It, 2008

Listen/watch: (live)

Lovely 2008 Richard Manuel tribute from the roots-based quartet Steppin In It, based in Lancing, Michigan. In 2015, the Mike+Ruthy Band recorded a cover of the song 2015 album Bright As You Can, a rootsy version featuring pedal steel and banjo.

Lyrics

In a thousand empty bottles 
In a hundred burned out cars 
In a house up in the Catskills 
In all the honky-tonks and bars 
All the way across the airwaves 
And all the way around this land
The ghost of Richard Manuel 
Is walking like a natural man 

Last night around the campfire 
We got high on homemade wine 
We passed around the guitar 
Tried to sing "Whispering Pines" 
And in every sweet falsetto 
That was more than I could stand 
Was the ghost of Richard Manuel 
Walking like a natural man 

Along the keys of my piano 
In the kick and in the snare 
In getting your kicks out of parlor tricks 
In a hound dog's hungry stare 
He's getting frozen up in Canada 
And burned in the south land 
The ghost of Richard Manuel 
Still walking like a natural man 

There's a room full of nicotine poets 
And three harmony guitars 
A shopworn tack piano 
And 32 bars 
And a Victrola in the corner 
Spinning "Alexander's Ragtime Band"
And the ghost of Richard Manuel 
Walking like a natural man 

Hey Richard, Hey Richard          
Richard, won't you sing us "Tears of Rage" just one more time