He lived his life a civil service man Designing toilets for the space program He believed if we could go to the moon There?s nothing on earth a man can
They forced it on the county school board And made a lot people mad They planned to bus us off across town And things got really bad That?s when the
I heard Odessa?s mind was sick That she was crazier than hell The police caught her turning tricks Down at the Blue and Gray motel Odessa was the neighbor
Shadows fall across the land Prophets say the end?s at hand More bad news everywhere I turn But in your arms it?s a perfect world Rebels rage and lions
Rust hills Red clay Steel mills Deep tang Lime stone Iron veins Loose coal Deep tang Birmingham Birmingham Beneath the haze Your skies once blue Now
We got her white from the factory But daddy had her painted baby blue She had a red vinyl interior That burned my legs on summer afternoons She took
Once every May Day We stayed at her house With doilies on tables And cats on the couch She played me records The ones he adored The music they danced
She is standing in the garden silently astute Waiting for the sun to come and kiss away the dew How can she be so translucent from my window view I can
Her voice was the first I knew She always liked popular tunes You know she?s from Kentucky too My mother sings Sounds like to me Rosemary Clooney Can
I feel a beating drum in my bones And I know it?s calling me to go Where the Spanish moss drapes the trees And the bayou whispers to let it be Come
She put a map and a tube of lipstick In an old Winn Dixie sack She pulled her Firebird out of the driveway Without ever looking back By the time she
Como estas? My name is Rosa and like my mother before me Everyday I roll cigars and they?re the finest in the world To pass the time the reader reads
I can still recall the night Lightning burned the mansion down We all stood in out pajamas On that hallowed southern ground When the flames had turned
I live south of Memphis in downtown Hollywood And these fields are all I?ve ever known Season after season I have worked to find a way To buy a piece
I can see Saltillo Street And the house where I was born I can hear gospel songs From the church on Sunday morn Saturday nights around the radio Life
Tangled vines cover the lattice They creep and crawl around the house Nobody lives there Only ghosts hang around I have seen hope and glory fade away
I miss Elvis in the movies With his dyed black hair Wish that I could find an ice cold Double Cola somewhere If I had a time machine I?d go back when