1-Dixie Flyer
I was born right here, November ’43
My dad was a captain in the army
Fighting the Germans in Sicily.
My poor little momma
Didn’t know a soul in L.A.
So we went down to the Union Station and made our getaway.
Got on the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans
Across the state of Texas to the land of dreams
On the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans
Back to her friends and her family in the land of dreams.
Her own mother came to meet us at the station,
Her dress as black as a crow in a coal mine
She cried when her little girl got off the train
Her brothers and her sisters drove down from Jackson, Mississippi
In a great green Hudson driven by a Gentile they knew
Drinkin’ rye whiskey from a flask in the back seat
Tryin’ to do like the Gentiles do
Christ, they wanted to be Gentiles, too
Who wouldn’t down there, wouldn’t you?
An American Christian, God damn!
On the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans
Across the state of Texas to the land of dreams
On the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans
Back to her friends and her family in the land of dreams
Back to her friends and her family in the land of dreams
2-Yellow Man
Very far away in a foreign land
Live the yellow woman and the yellow man
He’s been around for many-a-year
They say they were there before we were here
Eatin’ rice all day
While the children play
You see he believes
In the family
Just like you and me
Oh, yellow man, oh, yellow man
We understand, you know we understand
He keeps his money tight in his hand
With his yellow woman he’s a yellow man
Got to have a yellow woman
When you’re a yellow man
3-Suzanne
I saw your name, baby
In a telephone booth
And it told all about you, mama
Boy, I hope it was the truth
I took down your number
Looked up your address, Sue
And I was hoping that maybe
You could love me, too
I’m gonna wait in the shadows
For you to come by
I’m gonna wait in the shadows
For you to come by
And then I’ll jump from the shadows
To try and catch your eye
Gonna run my fingers through your hair
Now I don’t want to get too romantic
That’s just not my way
But when I get my arms around you
I’m gonna rock you all the night
Gonna rock you all the day
Suzanne, you won’t know it but I’ll be behind you
Don’t try and run away from me, little girl
Wherever you go I’ll find you
And when you go to the pictures
And I know you do
Don’t take no one with you
’Cause I’ll be there, too
Suzanne
4-The Girls in my Life
Was a little girl
Maybe five-foot-two
Had the cutest little feet
Made my heart go tweet-tweet
Quite a pleasant disposition
Then came a pretty young French girl, mmm
Whom I met in Las Vegas
When I was there with my parents
Oh my
Had a real nice conversation
Met a girl at the bakery
She wanted to borrow my car from me
I said, “Take it, baby”
She took it down To Mexico
Ran over a man named Juan
Then I went to college
Met a college girl
She lived in the sorority house
Across from school
Got a real fine education
Had seven women on my mind
Now I’m married
Have a very lovely wife
Three cute little boys
It’s so nice
And that’s just half the story
Of the girls in my life
5-Kingfish
There’s a hundred-thousand Frenchmen in New Orleans
In New Orleans there are Frenchmen everywhere
But your house could fall down
Your baby could drown
Wouldn’t none of those Frenchmen care
Everybody gather ’round
Loosen up your suspenders
Hunker down on the ground
I’m a cracker
And you’re one too
But don’t I take good care of you
Who built the highway to Baton Rouge?
Who put up the hospital and built your schools?
Who looks after shit-kickers like you?
The Kingfish do
Who gave a party at the Roosevelt Hotel?
And invited the whole north half of the state down there for free
The people in the city
Had their eyes bugging out
‘Cause everyone looked just like me
It’s the Kingfish, the Kingfish
Everybody sing
It’s the Kingfish, the Kingfish
Every man a king
Who took on the Standard Oilmen
And whipped their ass
Just like he promised he’d do?
Ain’t no Standard Oilmen gonna run this state
Gonna be run by little folks like me and you
It’s the Kingfish, the Kingfish
Friend of the working man
It’s the Kingfish, the Kingfish
The Kingfish gonna save this land
6-Losing You
Was a fool with my money
And I lost every dime
And the sun stopped shining
And it rained all the time
It did set me back some
But I made it through
But I’ll never get over losing you
Do you know how much you mean to me?
Should’ve told you ’cause it’s true
I’d get over losing anything
But I’ll never get over losing you
When you’re young
And there’s time
You forget the past
You don’t think that you will
But you do
But I know right now I don’t have time enough
And I’ll never get over losing you
I’ve been cold
I’ve been hungry
But not for awhile
I guess most of my dreams have come true
With it all here around me
No peace do I find
’Cause I’ll never get over losing you
No, I’ll never get over losing you
7-Sandman's Coming
Close your eyes now little girl
They don’t want to hear you cryin’
You never had a chance
You never had a chance
It’s a great big dirty world
If they say it ain’t they’re lyin’
Sandman’s comin’ soon
You know he’s comin’ soon
Close your eyes and dream
A little dream for you and me
Dream yourself a place where we can go
Baby you never know
Close your eyes now little girl
Go to sleep my little baby
Sandman’s comin’ soon
You know he’s comin’ soon
Sandman’s comin’ soon
You know he’s comin’ soon
8-My Life is Good
A couple of weeks ago
My wife and I
Took a little trip down to Mexico
Met this young girl there
We brought her back with us
Now she lives with us
In our home
She cleans the hallway
She cleans the stair
She cleans the living room
She wipes the baby’s ass
She drives the kids to school
She does the laundry too
She wrote this song for me
Listen
Yeah
The other afternoon
My wife and I
Took a little ride into
Beverly Hills
Went to the private school
Our oldest child attends
Many famous people send their children there
This teacher says to us
“We have a problem here
This child just will not do
A thing I tell him to
And he’s such a big old thing
He hurts the other children
All the games they play,
he plays too rough –”
Hold it teacher
Wait a minute
Maybe my ears are clogged or something
Maybe I’m not understanding
The English language
Dear, you don’t seem to realize
My life is good
My life is good, you old bat
My life is good
My life
Just this evening
Some young associates of ours
Are flying in to see us from
New York City
They’re gonna stay with us
Oh, a couple of weeks or so
I’m gonna take ’em to
Restaurants and everything
Gonna get ’em some
Real good cocaine
They don’t get much
Where they come from
And this one guy’s wife Is such a pretty little brown thing
That I’m liable to give her a poke or two
Whaddaya think of that?
Teacher, let me tell you a little story
Just this morning
My wife and I
Went to this big hotel in the hills
Where a very good friend of ours
Happens to be staying
And the name of this young man
Is Mr. Bruce Springsteen
Yeah, we talked about some kind of
Woodblock or something
And this new guitar we like
And you know what he said to me
I’ll tell you what he said to me
He said, “Rand, I’m tired
How would you like to be the Boss for awhile?”
Well, yeah
My life is good
My life is good
9-Birmingham
Got a wife, got a family
Earn my livin’ with my hand
I’m a roller in a steel mill
In downtown Birmingham
My daddy was a barber
And a most unsightly man
He was born in Tuscaloosa
But he died right here in Birmingham
Birmingham, Birmingham
The greatest city in Alabam’
You can travel ’cross this entire land
But there ain’t no place like Birmingham
My wife’s named Mary
But she’s called Marie
We live in a three-room house
With a pepper tree
I work all day in the factory
That’s all right with me
Got a big black dog
Whose name is Dan
Lives in my backyard in Birmingham
He is the meanest dog in Alabam’
Get ’em Dan
Birmingham, Birmingham
The greatest city in Alabam’
You can travel ’cross this entire land
But there ain’t no place like Birmingham
10-Last Night I had a Dream
You were in it, and I was in it with you
Everyone that I know
And everyone that you know was in my dream
I saw a vampire
I saw a ghost
Everybody scared me but you scared me the most
In the dream I had last night
In the dream I had last night
In my dream
It started out in a barnyard at sundown
And everyone was laughing and you were lying on the ground
You said, “Honey, can you tell me what your name is?”
“Honey, can you tell me what your name is?”
I said, “You know what my name is”
Last night I had a dream
You were in it, and I was in it with you
Everyone that I know
And everyone that you know was in my dream
I saw a vampire
I saw a ghost
Everybody scared me but you scared me the most
In the dream I had last night
In the dream I had last night
In my dream
11-Same Girl
You’re still the same girl you always were
You’re still the same girl
A few more nights on the street, that’s all
A few more holes in your arm
A few more years with me, that’s all
You’re still the same girl
With the same sweet smile that you always had
And the same blue eyes like the sun
And the same clear voice
You’re still the same girl
That I love
12-Baltimore
Beat-up little seagull
On a marble stair
Tryin’ to find the ocean
Lookin’ everywhere
Hard times in the city
In a hard town by the sea
Ain’t nowhere to run to
There ain’t nothin’ here for free
Hooker on the corner
Waitin’ for a train
Drunk lyin’ on the sidewalk
Sleepin’ in the rain
And they hide their faces
And they hide their eyes
’Cause the city’s dyin’
And they don’t know why
Oh, Baltimore
Man, it’s hard just to live
Oh, Baltimore
Man, it’s hard just to live, just to live
Get my sister Sandy
And my little brother Ray
Gonna buy a big old wagon
To haul us all away
Live out in the country
Where the mountain’s high
Never comin’ back here
’Til the day I die
Oh, Baltimore
Man, it’s hard just to live
Oh, Baltimore
Man, it’s hard just to live, just to live
12-Laugh and be Happy
I know what’s going on here
Ain’t no great mystery
Y’all have lost faith in yourselves
It’s as clear as it can be
You can whine all you want to
Drown in your misery
Or you can listen to me
Listen to me
Laugh and be happy
Don’t you ever wear a frown
Don’t let the bastards grind you down
Laugh and be happy
It’s a simple thing to do
Believe in your dreams
And your dreams will come true for you
There’ll be a red sun shining in a sky so blue
Blackbirds singing in the trees
There’ll be a real silver lining
Up there for me and you
Listen to me
Listen to me
Now the country that we’re living in
You mean the good ol’ USA?
That’s right!
It’s never been about keeping you out
It’s about inviting you in and letting you play
So laugh and be happy
Smile right in their face
’Cause pretty soon
You’re gonna take their place
You’ll come a-whack whack whackin’ like old man trouble
Whacking on their front door
They want to send you packin’ on the double
But you ain’t going away no more
Laugh and be happy
Don’t you ever wear a frown
Get right back on your feet
Whenever they knock you down
You’ve got to laugh and be happy
Believe me when I say
Everything’s going to go your way
You’ll be on top of the world
13 - Lucinda
We met one summer evening
As the sun was going down
She was lying on the beach
In her graduation gown
She was wrapped up in a blanket
(I could tell she knew her way around)
And as I lay down beside her
You know she never made a sound
On down the beach came the beach-cleaning man
Scoopin’ up the papers and flattening down the sand
“Lucinda, Lucinda, Lucinda — we’ve got to run away
That big white truck is closin’ in
And we’ll get wounded if we stay”
Now Lucinda lies buried ’neath the California sand
Put under by the beach-cleaning man
Lucinda, Lucinda, Lucinda — why’d you have to go?
They sent her to high school
They sent her to low school
She just wouldn’t go no further
14-Dayton-Ohio 1903
Sing a song of long ago
When things were green and movin’ slow
And people’d stop to say hello
Or they’d say “hi” to you
“Would you like to come over for tea
With the missus and me?”
It’s a real nice way
To spend the day
In Dayton, Ohio
On a lazy Sunday afternoon in 1903
Sing a song of long ago
When trees could grow
And days flowed quietly
The air was clean and you could see
And folks were nice to you
“Would you like to come over for tea
With the missus and me?”
It’s a real nice way
To spend the day
In Dayton, Ohio
On a lazy Sunday afternoon in 1903
16-Cowboy
Cold gray buildings where a hill should be
Steel and concrete closin’ in on me
City faces haunt the places
I rode alone
Cowboy, cowboy — can’t run, can’t hide
Too late to fight now — too tired to try
Wind that once blew free
Now scatters dust to the sky
Cowboy, cowboy — can’t run, can’t hide
Too late to fight now — too tired to try
