c s y sh rpe

in a mountain town’s where i’s born
in a great big avalanche
’s down in colorado, above a stream
on an apple tree branch
i’s named for a man from the texas land
whose story i never knew
but my dad sure did, or he surely should
’cause he was named it too
for miles and miles my backyard spanned
and the days they came and left
i’s told my life’s a-gonna turnout nice
but someplace along the way, i guess
i must’ve misplaced my foot or somethin
yeah i left home when i’s just sixteen
there’s one place i thought to go
so i hopped a train and a cargo plane
to th’ coast of mexico
plane was all full of deportees though
well th’ funniest thing i ever saw
in all my many years
’s the town of costallegre
after those first mexican beers
yes, my mind was all a-quakin
and the bright sky was a-blindin’
oh and colorado was miles away
and i’s just quietly findin
out all sorts of stuff
oh my [am] lord, i [f] know i can’t go [g] home
oh my [f] lord, i [g] know i can’t go [c] home
now as i said, i’s doin fine
found a job that can’t be matched
i’s meltin cheese in a cookin line
right next to a guy called patch
and he was a very strange and funny guy
he said, "howdy friend, i think i know you
from where i come up north
well on second thought, i’m probably wrong
you look ’bout a hunerd and eight percent mexicano"
wasn’t sure why he said that
later on, i’s gettin sad
and i figured it time to go
old patch was gone, he’d moved along
gone northward up the road
so on that notion i left the ocean
for the longest walk i’ve took
eatin cans of beans and the sorts of things
i’d read in a kerouac book
oh my [am] lord, i [f] know i can’t go [g] home
oh my [f] lord, i [g] know i can’t go [c] home
in a little town in texas
i met the daughter of the chief of police
she was blonde as milk and smooth as silk
as pretty as the ocean is deep
it was springtime in texas
and boys, did our love grow
only one thing that stood in our way
was her daddy could never know
so in a barn on her neighbor’s lot
i laid my head at night
then one night’s sleep i awoke mid-dream
to find i’d lost my eyesight!
couldn’t see a damned thing
in a panic i found the door
and stumbled ’cross the yard
i’s tryin to find my baby’s arms
o i was tryin very hard
when all the sudden from out of the dark
i’s wrestled to the ground
with my hands cuffed and my mouth stuffed
i’s carried into town
by a fella with an unpleasant odor
they took me in and locked me up
i thought that i’d gone mad
then finally came the chief of police
my lover’s drunken dad
with a bottle of whiskey
and i smelled cigar
he said, "well my boy, i must say
you’re in some very deep mud
the doctor’s wife’s been killed tonight
and your boot heels was found in the blood"
i said, "don’t all boot heels look about the same?"
then i told him i’d gone blind
he knocked me down, said "dig your mound
that judge’s gonna have you fried
and you’re gonna die, tomorrow!"
oh my [am] lord, i [f] know i can’t go [g] home
oh my [f] lord, i [g] know i can’t go [c] home
so tomorrow, on a big brown horse
a messenger will ride away
with this very note in the pocket of his coat
to pass along my name
to anybody that cares to hear a true story
about a world where a man is never entirely free
though there’s no reason he shouldn’t be