"SEE YOU LATER ALLIGATOR"

By Bengt Lindell

LSN Writer

“That boy could sing like a bird. He still does, as a matter of fact.”

These are the words by Bobby Charles’ long-time friend, Bob Dylan. Last Thursday, January 14, 2010, Charles, 71, died at his home outside Abbeville. Bobby Charles had moved there after Hurricane Rita washed away his Holly Beach home.

A few years ago I found myself invited to Bobby Charles. I didn’t realize then what a big scoop I was sitting on. I was one of a very few journalists, maybe the only one around here, who got to have a conversation with Bobby Charles at his beach home.

The rendezvous with Bobby Charles was strictly incidental. We went down to Holly Beach to visit our good friends Charles and Phoebe. Moments later, I found myself alone with Bobby Charles.

Abbeville native Bobby Charles was a recluse. “I just don’t mix with people,” he explained to me later that afternoon.

I knocked on the door and opened after I heard a “come on in” from Charles.

“Hi, I’m Bobby.” He looked at me a little suspiciously, and we shook hands. I told him I worked for the Welsh Citizen, and occasionally wrote articles about Louisiana for a Swedish paper.

“I’ve been working on some new songs lately,” Bobby Charles said and started his boom box. I heard a familiar guitar sound.

“Is that Sonny Landreth?” I asked him.

He nodded.

After this, things went much easier. It showed that Sonny Landreth from Breaux Bridge was his favorite guitar player. We kind of bonded a little when I recognized Sonny’s playing. The song he played was a tribute to Elvis Presley, "Last Train To Memphis." A black and white photo of Elvis and Bobby was hanging on a wall.

He continued to play his yet unreleased songs and started talking. A few of the songs were recorded at Dockside Studio in Maurice, others at Willie Nelson’s place in Pedernales, Texas.

“Neil Young plays on this one. He plays on Hank William’s guitar,” Charles informed me.

Neil Young had flown in from California to play on a few tracks.

“He booked two business class tickets. One for him and one for the guitar,” Bobby Charles said and smiled.

Neil Young and Bob Dylan weren’t the only famous friends Charles had. He said that he often drove over to New Orleans to visit his buddy Fats Domino, who had a huge hit in the 1950’s with one of Charles’ songs, "Walkin To New Orleans." Fats was just one in a line of stars who recorded Bobby Charles penned songs. Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Kris Kristofferson, and Rita Coolidge are just a few of them.

Although Bobby Charles was a prolific songwriter, he did not master any instrument, nor did he read music.

“Willie (Nelson) tried to teach me to play the guitar once. I just can’t connect my fingers to the music,” Charles explained. He continued, “Sometimes I get ideas when I’m away from a tape recorder, but if I can’t recall it later on, then it wasn’t worth saving.” However, he shared with me that once he called his answering machine from a convenience store’s phone and sang the tune so he would be sure to have it.

Bobby Charles’ recording career lasted over 50 years. His first hit was "See You Later Alligator," which became a world-wide hit with Bill Haley and The Comets.

Charles revealed it was difficult for him to get radio-play in the 1950. He recorded for Chicago-based Chess Records, who mostly produced blues and rock records with Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and others. Radio DJ’s assumed he was black, so his music was shelved by radio stations which preferred mainly “white” music. In fact, when one of the Chess brothers met him for the first time, he was surprised that Charles was white. Charles had gotten the recording deal with Chess by singing a song over the telephone and they just assumed he was black.

Bobby seemed to like it at Holly Beach. People left him alone, which he liked. Well not everyone liked him. Charles stated that the local police stopped him ever so often.

“Just because Willie Nelson visits me here, they think I smoke pot, too,” Charles commented.

Hurricane Rita chased him away from Holly Beach in September, 2005. This unfortunate event seemed to have inspired

Bobby Charles to create more songs. In 2007 he was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. He released a new album of songs in 2008 through his Rice’n’Gravy record label. He had just finished recording a new album, Timeless, produced by his old buddy, Dr. John. Timeless pinpoints Bobby Charles’ song writing in just one word. His melodies could be

created in another time, or here, right now.

Before I left that afternoon, Bobby Charles handed me a couple of his CD’s (he signed one of them), a couple of Rice’n’Gravy baseball caps, and a tape, "The Solution To Pollution," a clean water project Charles had created for school use. It was a nice gesture from a kind-hearted man.

Let me close with a quote from one of Bobby Charles most beautiful songs which in many ways describes his longing to be somewhere else. This song, Tennessee Blues, has been recorded by a number of artists:

“If I’ve had my way I’d leave here today, I’d leave in a hurry

I’d find me a place where I could stay and not have to worry

I’d find me a spot on some mountain top with no one around me

With valleys and streams and birds in the trees and lakes that surround me

A place I could use a place I could lose these Tennessee blues.”

Thanks for all the memories Mr. Bobby. “See you later, alligator!”