Floater (Too Much To Ask)

Down over the window

From the dazzling sunlit place

Through the back alleys, through the blinds

Another one of the Memphis days

Honey bees are buzzing

Leaves begin to stir

I'm in love with my second cousin

I tell myself I could be happy forever with her

I keep listening for footsteps

But I ain't never hearing any

From the boat, I fish for bullheads

I catch a lot, sometimes too many

A summer breeze is blowin'

A squall is setting in

Sometimes it's just plain stupid

To get into any kind of wind

Well the old men 'round here

Sometimes they get on bad terms

With the younger men

Old, young, age don't carry weight

It doesn't matter in the end

One of the boss' hangers-on

Sometimes comes to call

At times, you least expect

Tryin' to bully you, strong-arm you

Inspire you with fear

It has the opposite effect

There's a new grove of trees on the outskirts of town

The other one is long gone

10 foot, 2 foot, 6 across

Burns with the bark still on

They say times are hard

If you don't believe it you can follow your nose

It don't bother me, times are hard anywhere

We'll just have to see how it goes

My old man, he's like some feudal lord

He's got more lives than a cat

I've never seen him quarrel with my mother even once

Things come alive or they fall flat

You can smell the pine wood burnin'

You can hear the school bell ring

Got to get up near the teacher, if you can

If you wanna learn anything

Romeo, he said to Juliet, you got a poor complexion

That don't give your appearance a very youthful touch

Juliet said back to Romeo

Why don't you just shove off

If it bothers you so much

They all got outta here any way they could

Cold rain can give you the shivers

They went down the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee

All the rest of them rebel rivers

If you ever try to interfere with me

Or cross my path again

You do so at the peril of your life

I'm not quite as cool, or forgiving as I sound

I've seen enough heartache and strife

My grandfather was a duck trapper

He could do it with just dragnets and ropes

My grandmother could sew new dresses out of old cloth

I don't know if they had any dreams or hopes

I had 'em once, though I suppose

To go along with all the ring dancing

Christmas carols and all the Christmas eves

I left all my dreams and hopes

Buried under tobacco leaves

Not always easy kicking someone out

Got to wait awhile, it can be an unpleasant task

Sometimes somebody wants you to give something up

And tears or not, it's too much to ask