Herman Cherry is a very tiny man
A walrus mustache and an ever-present cigar
He can jitterbug with the very best of them
Herman Cherry is a very tiny man.

An abstract expressionist
He prefers a large canvas
Of black on black or black on gray
Sees art as trial and error
Till the painter becomes aware
Of what he’s trying to say.

Herman Cherry is a very tiny man
A walrus mustache and an ever-present cigar
He can jitterbug with the very best of them
Herman Cherry is a very tiny man.

Throbbing colors like a heart
Always beating very hard
In no specific time or space
In textures made of sand
And utterly unplanned
Everything in its place

I heard him quoting Willem De Kooning
Who said ‘I fight my way out of a picture,
Not into it.’

Herman Cherry is a very tiny man
A walrus mustache and an ever-present cigar
He can jitterbug with the very best of them
Herman Cherry is a very tiny man.


Notes on song:
I bought an old paperback called “Conversations With Artists” at a used book store. The book consisted of short interviews with painters of the 1940s and 50s. That’s where I discovered a man named Herman Cherry who was described this way: “Herman Cherry is a tiny fellow, with a walrus mustache and an ever-present cigar….who can jitterbug with the best of them”.  I picked up my guitar and basically sang those words, later adding more about his artistry. That’s how it became a song.