Bill Hicks - The Perfect Gig
Solo performances of Bill's original songs (released March, 2002)
Buy the CD | Read Lyrics | Song Notes | Peruse Reviews
The Perfect Gig--An Owner’s Manual

     I’m Bill Hicks, the fiddler, not the deceased comedian.  Nonetheless, this CD is named for a song and not for an event,  not even the event described in the song.  The perfect gig is like David Byrne’s “heaven,” and like Tom Jefferson’s “happiness.”  I’ve been a fiddler all my life, all I got is a barlow knife and a fantastic artist/musician wife, Libby, who I gig with and pursue happiness with.  I’ve been a writer all my life too, and this CD is about my writing--my poem/songs, some of em, too many Jerry Brown said for one CD, but oh well--and there’s nary a fiddle on here cause I want you to know what I sound like absolutely solo and I can’t play fiddle and guitar at once.
     When I left the Red Clay Ramblers in 1981 I think I felt that my voice, as a writer and even as a singer, was left behind.  I focused on fiddling, on my life as a father and stone mason and husband.  I became “responsible,” a serious person full of adult concerns.  By 1995 Anna had grown up into a thriving, remarkable teenager, and Libby had abandoned work in offices as a lost cause and begun to build her artistic self in her glass work.  We continued to play music all through these years, and Libby frequently suggested that I try writing a song again.  And about 1997 or so I did!  Indeed, they poured out of me in a flood, to the point that I’ve felt I needed to make this CD just to make it known that I am a songwriter and singer as well as an instrumentalist.  Enormous thanks are due to Libby and to Anna, who each encouraged me over and over, who saw the little flickering flame in my writer’s heart even when I didn’t.

Lyrics to Bill's original songs in The Perfect Gig

Reviews of The Perfect Gig
"I wake up in the middle of the night thinking of some of those songs" Charles Temple--read his review in the Ocracoke Observer


Jim Graves, DJ of Fayetteville's Free Flight, 91.9 FM WFS, starts "Bill Hicks, original Red Clay Rambler, sought-after collaborator, and all-around NC musical treasure" - the rest

Join us at the live concert at the Cave where much of The Perfect Gig was recorded

For your own copy of The Perfect Gig,
write Bill Hicks through the website or use our handy CD Baby link below for online ordering with your credit card:
 
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Bill's comments:
"Last Call" [lyrics]
After explaining the reasons for his presence at the bar, Bud meets a spectral drifter packing iron and a Zen frame of mind.   Bud is eventually left in the dispersing cloud of vapors which accompany the drifter's discourse, and points to an old sheepskin coat as proof that he wasn't entirely dreaming.

"The Perfect Gig"[lyrics]

Things begin in Diogenic solemnity but soon evolve into a Sophoclitorial paradise of snuggles and expresso.  A tip of the
hat to David Byrne's "Heaven" is required.

"Noir Bubble" [lyrics]

a story-song about a doomed romance in some flickering Noirville--Bergman meets Bogey. 

"Play 'Rocky Top'" [ lyrics ]

Bill's new live version of the original live version he did at the Cat's Cradle in 1979 with the Blurs--this time he was wailing at the Cave, another Chapel Hill dive,  back in November last.

Bill's notes on the songs from the first edition CD insert

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March 2, 2002
updated March 5, 2018