Friends Forever

The Master Plan (From 81 to Now)
​(Style: Stevie Wonder Soul/Funk - Upbeat, 110 BPM)
​Intro
​(Starts with a tight drum fill, followed by a funky, walking bassline. A bright horn section hits three sharp chords, then a rolling electric piano (Rhodes) takes over the groove.)
(Background vocals: "Yeah! Oh-ho! Come on!")
​Verse 1
​I was over in Vidalia, where the soil is sweet and black
He was thirty miles in Glennville, just across the railroad track
Two neighbors in the sunshine, but we didn’t know a soul
Just two different players, waiting on the same rock and roll!
Then we stepped into Mount Vernon, eighty-one was the year
Brewton-Parker was the stage, and the vision started getting clear!
​Chorus
​Oh, it’s a friendship in the key of life, yeah!
Started in the auditorium, under Hilda’s light
Johnny and Stencil, moving at the speed of sight!
From the Georgia red clay to the Bainbridge breeze
We’re still standing tall, like the ancient cypress trees!
(Yeah, we’re still here!)
​Verse 2
​Then we hit the open highway, let the windows catch the wind
With a little bit of smoke, wondering where the road would end
Up and down the blacktop, making memories by the mile
Every mile we traveled, brother, we did it with a smile!
Time tried to trick us, tried to say the years were gone
But the rhythm of our brotherhood just keeps carrying on!
​Chorus
​Oh, it’s a friendship in the key of life, yeah!
Started in the auditorium, under Hilda’s light
Johnny and Stencil, moving at the speed of sight!
From the Georgia red clay to the Bainbridge breeze
We’re still standing tall, like the ancient cypress trees!
​Bridge
​(The music breaks down into a heavy percussion groove with a synthesizer solo)
Thirty miles apart—for twenty years of time!
But it took a junior college for our stars to finally align!
Now it’s twenty-twenty-six, and the bond is iron-clad
The best adventure that two brothers ever could’ve had!
​Vamp
​(High-energy, repeating groove. Ad-lib over the rhythm)
(Johnny and Stencil!) We’re still rolling!
(Eighty-one!) We’re still soul-ing!
(Vidalia to Glennville!) The gap is closed!
(Bainbridge, Georgia!) Heaven knows!
Keep it funky now! (Yeah!)
Don’t you let the rhythm stop!
​Outro
​Forty-five years and the song is just beginning
When you got a friend like this, you’re always winning!
(Horn section plays a final, triumphant rising scale)
(Fade out with the sound of laughter and a funky bass lick)