Legendary songwriter Bobby Charles has the soul of a Native American. In the history of rock and roll, Charles is one of the genre's great mysterious spirits, a man who feels guided by his art. He doesn't play any musical instruments and can't read music, yet he's composed such songs as "See You Later Alligator," "Walking To New Orleans," "But I Do," Ain't Got No Home," and "The Jealous Kind," as if he was pulling them out of the wind.

He's been promised remuneration for his craft, and too...