Lyrics Talkin' Karate Blues - Townes Van Zandt

Talkin' Karate Blues

Well, I ain’t very big for twenty-one
And it seems like I never could have any good clean fun
'Cause every time I’d go outside, some great big old bully’d come along
He’d hit me in the face and he’d knock me to the ground
And he’d start to kickin' me all around
And that ain’t exactly fair, friends, that’s wrong
So I got me a paper the other night
And I crawled up on the sofa and I turned on the light
And I flipped through the pages till I found the classified ads
Said, «Take karate from Lee Hung Chow
Man, make your first appointment now
This course is guaranteed to make you bad»
Well, the next day I drove to the address
And by the Japanese design I was real impressed
It looked like a regular house of the rising sun
I walked inside, I was all alone
I had a nervous feeling down in my bones
I was kind of sorry I’d ever even come
Then a giant Jap came through the door
He must have been at least about seven foot four
And he looked like he’s prone to easy aggravation
He said, «Lee Hung Chow, ah kee dung»
That’s Japanese for «fee fie foo fum»
I tried to explain my entire situation
He said, «Number one, course, Yankee, self defense
Two hundred dollars and twenty five cents»
I said «What's the twenty five cents for?»
and he said, «Repairs»
I said, «Repairs to what?», and he said, «To you»
And I thought to myself, «Man, that won’t do»
Felt about a half inch tall underneath that old slanted stare
Ah, you think he was yella
I said, «I believe I better go check another place»
He said, «Ha so, Yankee don’t like my race»
I said, «Now, there’s a mistake, man, and that’s true
I’ve been for you Japanese all along
You Japanese just can’t do no wrong
And I thought you got a mighty dirty deal in World War II»
Well, he grabbed me by the hand and he gave a heave
I figured there’s a pretty good time to leave
Before he had a chance to do me any definite harm
But my plan worked out in the end, you see
Now no bully’s gonna pick on me
Who’s gonna hit a fellow with just one arm?