Mad Gods And Englishmen

Almost fifty years ago the graffiti went out;
'CLAPTON IS GOD' and many young men
believed in the purity of Eric's sound and volume.
But he was too modest and muddled to be a deity.
Hendrix did it better. Few knew how many pedals
he used but when the magic came nobody asked
-they marveled at how it flew from his fingers.
Jerry lived twice as long as Hendrix did.
With different bands he played near 4000 gigs,
and over 3000 of them were recorded.
He wrote and played many a tune
that nobody else would ever master.
Jimmy the magician toured too,
warping the ears of young men with a stadium
sound they could not believe. Grief quietened him.
The one still touring is Kieth who at over seventy
is present in spite of his history of recreational chemistry.
After fifty years of playing he has such mangled hands
that they are worthy of a plaster cast
in their own right, very different to those of old.