Meeting Charlie Parker

When I was a young man I used to study with Lennie Tristano and I would go to New York
Once every week for a lesson with Mr. Tristano
And after the lesson I would go to, uh
The record store and buy all the latest Charlie Parker records and Dizzy Gillespie records and Bud Powell records
And then I'd get a bowl of spaghetti for a quarter and if I still had a dollar left
My friend and I would go to 52nd Street where we would listen to music and buy a Coca-Cola for one dollar
And we would sit there for hours and hours and hours
Until our, our bus left at 5 AM and we would go back to Springfield, Massachusеtts which is my hometown
One time wе went for a lesson
And Mr. Tristano said, uh, "Are you kids gonna be coming down to 52nd Street tonight?"
And we said, "Yeah
We, we, we usually do, it’s a good place to wait for a bus"
So, uh, he said, uh, we asked him, "Why do you ask?", he said
"Because I'm opening for Charlie Parker tonight
And perhaps you'd like to meet him"
And I said to myself, "I always wanted to meet God", you know? So

Anybody out there?
Oh yeah, yeah, there’s people
So, uh
Yeah

So I said sure
So we went, we heard the first set by Tristano and then after the first set
He came and got us, took us backstage
And there was the great Charlie Parker
And he was sitting on the floor
And he had a big cherry pie
And he said, "Hi kids, would you like a piece of cherry pie?"
We said, "Yeah, man, that'd be great"
So we all sat on the floor with Charlie Parker
And he cut us a piece of pie
Tarte aux pommes, tarte aux cerise
And we had a piece of pie
Now you probably hear a lot of musicians and classical musicians and jazz musicians and popular musicians
But I bet you'll never hear a musician that can say
He had a piece of pie with Charlie Parker, well, I, I did

Why, thank you, you are awake
Oh, you are out there
Okay, I can't, I can't, uh