TUPELO MISSISSIPPI FLASH
(Jerry Reed Hubbard)


Jerry Reed - 1967
Tom Jones - 1970
Steve Gibbons Band - 1977


I'm gonna tell you a story that's all about
This job I had one time as a talent scout, hmmmm

I'd had a hard day at the office and the boss wasn't in town
The day this hare-legged guitar picker just happened to come around,  hmmmm

Well, he walks into my office with a great big grin
And folks, that's where my story really begins

He said, "Son, my name is Beauregard Rippy
I come to you from Tupelo Mississippi
I write songs and I sing like a bird
I play licks on my guitar like you ain't never heard

But I'm down on my luck, things are just a little slack
I got a quarter in my pocket and this shirt on my back
But you buy me some supper,  give me a place I can sleep"
Said, "I'll sing you some songs that'll knock your hat in the creek, I got talent, boy" 
Said, "Back home they call me the Tupelo Mississippi Flash"

(Instrumental Break)

Well I knew I was in a room with some kind of a nut 
When he pulled out that pack of used cigarette butts
So that's when I told him, "We can't use you today"
So I handed the boy a dollar and I sent him on his way

Well, the boss got back and we both had a laugh 
When I told him 'bout the Tupelo Mississippi Flash
And pretty soon I had the story circulatin' around 
About this Mississippi nut that we had in our town
I said, "Watch him everybody, the boy's squirrelly!
He walks around calling himself the Tupelo Mississippi Flash"

(Instrumental Break)

Well then, it happened one day while I was driving to my home 
I just happened to have my car radio on
When I heard a jockey ravin' about a brand new smash
By a kid called the Tupelo Mississippi Flash
Why, I almost wrecked my automobile
I went through red lights
I hit a traffic cop........
Why.......

Well my story's got an endin' and it's short and sweet
The boss man, he fired me, left me out in the street
But I got a new job now and I'm a-learnin' real fast
I'm a-drivin' the bus for the Tupelo Mississippi Flash

And his Cadillac, I'm drivin' that for him too
And that yacht he's got
And his aeroplane
Well chauffer so good I always say
Tupelo Mississippi, whoever heard of it
FADE.....Why......I'll kill the boy.....







(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - May 2011)