Tripper

T'was a brisk autumn day

They remember it well

Tripper went strolling along

He was merely a boy his mom's pride and joy

So sure he could do no wrong

Running down to the river and up by the tracks

Pretending he was Jesse James

With his fathers old hat a stick for a gun

Tripper walked home in the rain

Such a glorious sight fresh flowers in bloom

In the spring when the ice takes to thaw

But its rough wretched road a man has to go

Living outside of the law

For dark dirty cell was Tripper's own hell

Survival was his battle cry

If drinking don't kill me or a villainous gun

He said I'll live 'til I die

Mother dear, I'm in trouble here

Far in the distant West

I lay down on stony ground

I'm not feeling all the best

Cold wind on the river and rain on the road

Every light in the house burning strong

Somebody saying a sad rosary

Wondering where Tripper went wrong

Cause he met his own maker a grim undertaker

Took a knife too deep in the lungs

In a dim parking lot his very last thoughts

Were the days he went strolling along