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minnesota fats living where it's at like so few
i was a child, face with a smile that was so new
i knew his name, he taught me the game with no rules
cutting the air, feelings that are there and waiting for you

when you're in to the sunshine
you're disguised with a false line
he knows the moves that you'll make
he reads the lines that you'll fake
it's in your eyes
and when you're ready for reaching 
check the steps that you're leaving
i feel sick when i'm late 
i see the fats in a take and i know
i'm just alan "normally"

a stick and a stake a table to debate with some fool
every place we play, knowing our names was meaning it
we lived in the stars cabins and bars 
wherever the money was at
me and the fats living in the act like so few

when you're in to the sunshine
you're disguised with a false line
he knows the moves that you'll make
he reads the lines that you'll fake
it's in your eyes
my thoughts are confusing 
i feel the wheels that are moving
i'm not quite when it's fair
i see the fats in a stare and i know
i'm just alan "normally"

David Humphrey:  guitar, vocals & overdubs

What I remember: Jackie Gleason's portrayal of pool extraordinaire Minnesota Fats in "The Hustler" always stuck with me. I could see myself as his apprentice, a "Fast Eddie" maybe. But there was only one Minnesota Fats. In my soul I was just Alan "normally" no more no less.

The 1973 recording was an important step forward in my hope of creating a "movie in a song".  None of the Nashville/Atlanta Studio and Publishers shared my creative vision. 

Play: mp3 version

(Jackie Gleason & Paul Newman "The Hustler")