Song For a River

Saw him escorted out of a mets game

He was the king of the back seat

On network t.v.

Of drunk reverie

Kept his head in the clouds

Saw him escorted out of a mets game

With any cheap high he could cull

On network t.v.

In his cancered impala

Kept his head in the clouds

And his hog shirts

With any cheap high he could cull

And his head tapes played dull

In his cancered impala

He lived in a company house

And his hog shirts

In the pardeesville woods

And his head tapes played dull

With a stir crazy dog

And a graveyard of old 'jimmy' hoods

He lived in a company house

Sundays we'd run for his stash

In the pardeesville woods

At the new york state line

With a stir crazy dog

That summer when moments of

And a graveyard of old "jimmy" hoods

Circumstance altered like wine

Sundays we'd run for his stash

At the new york state line

Chorus

That summer when moments of

This is for the man

Circumstance altered like wine

This is for the days that we killed

Was it my wind of change

(chorus)

Or just a breeze at the top of the hill

This is for the man

He didn't talk the gold ring

This is for the days that we killed

He just schemed for a skeleton key

Was it my wind of change

But when you think you met thunder

Or just a breeze at the top of the hill

You only see what your head wants to see

He didn't talk the gold ring

He just schemed for a skeleton key

He threw back-mountain parties

But when you think you met thunder

Five deep at the 'well'

You only see what your head wants to see

With his girlfriend, louise, who'd get lit

And tell us all 'go to hell'

He threw back-mountain parties

Then he'd get liquored up

Five deep at the "well"

And throw me his keys and yell 'drive'

With his girlfriend, louise, who'd get lit

With him and louise in the back

And tell us all "go to hell"

Doin' 'american pie'

Then he'd get liquored up

He'd talk of out west over beer

And throw me the keys and yell "drive"

And the garbage that we ate

With him and louise in the back

'bout the punk band he'd managed

Doin' "american pie"

In phoenix in '78

I was this kid of sixteen the enamored

He'd talk of out west over beer

Impressionable kind

And the garbage that we ate

In the poetic pull of the passion

'bout the punk band he'd managed

Of life with the lines

In phoenix in '78

I was this kid of sixteen the enamored

Chorus

Impressionable kind

In the poetic pull of the passion

He just disappeared that mid-august

Of life with the lines

Not even a shout

Then i read in the news that september

(chorus)

That his time had run out

How he tried to outrun a state trooper

He just disappeared that mid-august

Down 93 south

Not even a shout

A charge of possession is why he fled

Then i read in the news that september

Said word of mouth

That his time had run out

The paper said nothin' was left

How he tried to outrun a state trooper

But the seats and the frame

Down 93 south

And i read in the write-up

A charge of possession is why he fled

For the first time his real name;

Said word of mouth

Birthplace unknown, not from nowhere

No close family

The paper said nothin' was left

Just a wild running river

But the seats and the frame

That cut it too fast to the sea

And i read in the write-up

For the first time his real name;

I still raise a glass once a year

Birthplace unknown, not from nowhere

On the night that he died

No close family

Though hindsight says

Just a wild river running

He only let me believe that we'd ride

That cut it too fast to the sea

Lord, he still taps a vein in my mind

Like a summer rain cools

I still raise a glass once a year

Long after that river ran dry

On the night that he died

And reality ruled

Though hindsight says

He only let me believe that we'd ride

Chorus 2x

Lord, he still taps a vein in my mind

Like a summer rain cools

Long after that river ran dry

And reality ruled

(chorus2x)