Hi-Fly (Hendricks)

'Hi-Fly' is an instrumental jazz composition written by pianist Randy Weston inspired by his experience of being 6 feet 8 inches tall, "and how the ground looks different to you than everybody else". Since first being recorded in July 1958 on 'New Faces at Newport,' the song appears on several other albums by Weston.

Lyrics were added later by Jon HENDRICKS:

Old ways seem to have passed them by
These days, life is in Hi-Fly

People walking 'round, livin' in a daze
High above the ground, with their snooty/crazy ways
Put the people down, acting phoney while they fly high

[All around the town, actin' silly while they fly high]

[High falutin' crowds with their foreign cars 

Livin' in the clouds, shootin' for the stars

They can never see, life the way it oughta be]

In their fancy clothes, with their corny jokes

Looking down their nose, at the common folks
They can never see, life the way it ought to be

Old ways seem to have passed them by
These days, life is in Hi-Fly

Everybody's hip, every kind of sound 

Comes from every lip, everybody's down 

'bout too really flip, acting phoney/dippy while they fly high

[while they try livin' in Hi-Fly]

Recordings exist by Lambert-Hendricks-Ross (1961), Mel Tormé, Karin Krog/Archie Shepp, Ben Sidran, Soesja Citroen, Jenny Evans, Abbey Lincoln, Dena DeRose, Deborah Latz, etc.