It must have been a dozen years ago
This wise old gent was grey and bent
But his eyes had a fiery glow
He could play a little fiddle
And some blues guitar that
he'd picked up along the way
once he put his hands on the mandolin
He lit up just like a Christmas tree
Along with Ted Bogan and Howard
They were the best string
Road houses, concerts and festivals too
At the drop of a hat these
Would play you every song they knew
It was "Lady Be Good" and
Now, they'd trot the oldest
And the little white boys
Would follow right along at their heels
They learned all the words
and they learned all the chords
But they never did learn how it feels
Now one night I asked Carl
If you want to be someone,
And you better get it while you can.'
You better get it while you can
You better get it while you can
If you wait too long, it'll all be gone
It doesn't matter if you're
And it's the same for a woman or a man
From the cradle to the crypt
So you better get it while
Carl always had a way to make the
He'd just pick out the prettiest
There was an all night blow- out jam
Until the sun came up again
It was blues and ballads, Ragtime,
And then Carl Martin sang
some songs nobody else knew
And some I haven't heard since then
But right before dawn he did
Just to separate the strong
It was a red- hot rendition
And a double- time version of 'The
(With the mandolin behind his head)
And when he was done those
of us who could still breathe
Took off our hats to that man
Carl had played everybody under the
'You better get it while you can'
You better get it while you can
You better get it while you can
If you wait too long, it'll all be gone
And it's the same for a woman or a man
From the cradle to the crypt
So you better get it while
You know Carl and his buddies
When he died Martin didn't have a dime
He was a little behind in his payments
And a little bit ahead of his time
Last week some so- called
Stayed up real late and burned one down
Til a minute or two before dawn
There were those who stayed
But soon I was left all alone
Now I don't believe in ghosts
I heard Carl Martin singing
You better get it while you can
It doesn't matter if you're
And it's the same for a woman or a man
From the cradle to the crypt
So you better get it while you can
You better get it while you can
