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about

Song by Dave about Larry Gains, a Canadian born boxer who cake to live in the Wharf Street area of Leicester and who would probably have won the World Heavyweight Crown but for the colour bar in force at the time.

lyrics

Never Got that Clean Break –capo 3 -key Gminor
1. I’ll (Em) tell you a story bout a man called Larry Gains
Who made his way into the (B7)hall of (Em)fame;
Started out washing dishes to try to get by
Or down with the young bucks (B7)rolling the(Em) dice.

2. Running(Am) bootleg from Toronto to Chicago(Em) town,
On the midnight trains where the(B7) deals go (Em)down,
(Am)Met Jack Johnson of whom everybody’s(Em) heard,
Proud to shake the hand that (B7)shook the world.

(G)He was chasing the(D) impossible dream.
The (Am)big chances passed him by or(Em) so it seems
The (G)championship of the (D)world he’d never win
It(C)all came down to the(B7) colour of his skin,
(Em)Blame it all on preju(G)dice, fear and (B7)ate,
He(C) never got to (B7)get that clean (Em)reak

3. Found out to survive you had to live on your wits
Learned how to fight, how to box with his fists
Down in the ring trading blow for blow,
Heavyweight champion of Ontario.

4. On that slow boat to England he came across the sea,
Fighting in Paris, fighting in Germany
Til them good folks of Leicester welcomed him home
Won himself the Empire Title down the Welford Road.

He was chasing the impossible dream.

5, Drank a carafe of wine with Hemingway,
Paul Robeson, Colman Hawkins, Cab Calloway;
Played chemin de fer with princes and sheikhs
But pride and politics meant he just didn’t get the breaks.

5. Now evening is the very best time of the day,
For an old fighter to think of the ones that got away
All through that Indian summer, you’d still hear it spoke,,
Of the day he beat Carnera, the great whitehope

credits

from Legends of Leicester & Leicestershire Vol. III, released December 22, 2022
Dave Taylor - guitar, bass, percussion, Peter Nicholls - saxophone.

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Steve Cartwright Leicester, UK

I am a singer/songwriter (of considerable repute), a poet and an artist and I’ve been around for centuries. I write great songs and you’ll find they span a variety of styles and cover a very wide range of topics. My poems (like my songs) are designed to inform and challenge and to make you laugh and cry. ... more

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