“Big Don Keene” - a song about walking the streets
Song two of two that I wrote with veteran Carl Berger.
Story Pairing
This is the second song that I wrote as part of Project DREW. Project DREW was founded to honor the legacy of Special Forces Captain Drew Ferguson. D.R.E.W. is an acronym that uses his first name to capture our mission: Delivering Restorative Energy to our Warriors.
This song came at the end of my time with Carl. He had some many stories that one song didn’t even come close to scratching the surface. Two doesn’t either, but it’s in the right direction.
We wanted a song that was a little bit more upbeat and light, so it’s based off of a trip to Seoul.
Again, with Carl’s permission I am sharing his words about what this song is inspired from.
The second song is a bit lighter. It’s titled, “Big Don Keene.”
Don was a big guy, a former lineman for the football team at University of Arkansas prior to entering the service. He was my buddy in Korea and we each had a 3-day pass to take an admission test for entrance into graduate business school after discharge. The test was in Seoul and we traveled there by bus and checked into the USO where we’d sleep and went up the street to enjoy ourselves.
At curfew time in Korea in 1970 the businesses closed and the streets were blocked to private vehicle traffic. So, just prior to that Don and I left the bar and began to walk towards the USO and that’s where the second song which has a bit of a Jim Croce feel to it begins.
- Carl Berger
Song Structure
Verse: E/A7/B7
Chorus: A7/E/B7/E
Voice Memos
Notebook Page
March 2023
Lyrics
Me and Don Keene, bout as big as I've seen
We were walking the streets of Seoul you see
Curfews coming about as fast as it can
We're heading to the USO
A peddler come up to me and to him
He's got this look, he's got this grin
Right this way would you gentlemen
Said who he's talking to
It's me and big Don Keene
Tough as nails and equally mean
Step aside, were just passing through
Says she's a cherry girl, sweet and small
You look to be over 6ft tall
Don pins that sucker against the wall
Says my buddy here is a priest
He scampers away with his tail tween his legs
Don looks at me and to him I say
This holy man should be on his way
We still have some drinking to do
It's me and big Don Keene
Tough as nails and equally mean
Step aside, were just passing through
So if you see two men, walking the town
And curfews bring the hot sun down
We aint buying what you're spreading around
You'll be answering to big Don Keene