roadside song
i sit on spring lakes drive i just saw a whole hive
of yellow and black cars arrive at the red light across the way
you know i think they know we’ll all be dead someday
but right now i sit on the side of the road and watch all the cars go by
each one drivin closer to the day it dies
and i say what about the poets who versified his life
we’ve got hubcaps of steel drunk dads behind the wheel
and we know that tomorrow night he’ll be on his knees to kneel
at the coffin of the kid who’s been shredded by his wheels
and maybe just today he will wake up and feel
i just got off the bus off the train
surrounded by the city folks who dress so plain
we went for a ride at high tide
of traffic from frisco under the burnin sky
from the city where i saw an old man in a wheelchair
tuck his grey hair behind his ears
glare at the traffic and dare em to hit him
as he propelled across the sidewalk like he has for years
and me so self-pitying i collapse in tears
as the compassionless days turn into years
we’ve got hubcaps of steel drunk dads behind the wheel
and we know that tomorrow night he’ll be on his knees to kneel
at the coffin of the kid who’s been shredded by his wheels
and maybe just today he will wake up and feel
but twenty years later n he’s here all alone
if you can’t teach him new tricks just give him a bone
after all day after day now he’s got no home
around the streets of san francisco he roams
he hopes to god that someday his legs will heal
but more he hopes that someday that death will repeal
a life for life god won’t you make a deal
we’ve got hubcaps of steel drunk dads behind the wheel
and we know that tomorrow night he’ll be on his knees to kneel
at the coffin of the kid who’s been shredded by his wheels
and maybe just today he will wake up and feel
but now he and i sit on the side of the road
and i offer to help him with his heavy load
he just smiles n says ‘heaven no
child you keep goin til you die
those wheels of time don’t pause when they go by
except by those poets who versify their lives'
and i said 'sir pardon but can i tell you what’s real?'
we’ve got hubcaps of steel drunk dads behind the wheel
and we know that tomorrow night he’ll be on his knees to kneel
at the coffin of the kid who’s been shredded by his wheels
and maybe just today he will wake up and feel
