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, strongarm 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 everywhere
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 on 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