Best Version of Tightrope by Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble (Live)

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble – Tightrope (Live From Austin, TX)

Pretty much my favorite SRV song. It’s about his struggles with addiction – a struggle he won. It gives me so much joy to listen to the groove and swagger in this song. It evokes the feeling of a strutting champion, an audible strut of a man who beat his demons and came out on the other side. Transcendent stuff, really.

This Austin City limits show he did in 1989 was otherwordly. He was on another plane that night. His playing just tears right through you. Your left shaking and crying at the same time. It’s hard to believe another human can play like that. We are so so blessed to have his music. If I live to be a hundred, I’ll never get over his death. God bless you all who love him as much as I do.

Lyrics:
Caught up in a whirlwind can’t catch my breath
Knee deep in hot water broke out in a cold sweat
Can’t catch a turtle in this rat race
Feels like I’m losin’ time at a breakneck pace
Afraid of my own shadow in the face of grace
Heart full of darkness spotlight on my face
There was love all around me but I was lookin’ for revenge
Thank God it never found me would have been the end
walkin’ the tightrope steppin’ on my friends
Walkin’ the tightrope (it) was a shame and a sin
Walkin’ the tightrope between wrong and right
Walkin’ the tightrope both day and night
Lookin’ back in front of me in the mirror’s a grin
Through eyes of love I see I’m really lookin’ at a friend
We’ve all had our problems that’s the way life is
My heart goes out to others who are there to make amends
We’ve been walkin’ the tightrope tryin’ to make it right
Walkin’ the tightrope every day and every night
Walkin’ the tightrope bring it all around
Walkin’ the tightrope from the lost to found
Walkin’ the tightrope stretched around the world
Walkin’ the tightrope save the boys and girls
Walkin’ the tightrope let’s make it right
Walkin’ the tightrope do it do it tonight
Walkin’ the tightrope

Songwriters: Vaughan Stevie Ray / Bramhall Doyle
Tightrope lyrics © Reservoir 416, Soberay Music, Reservoir Media Management (ireland) Limited, Ray Vaughan Music Inc, Ray Vaughan Music Inc.