In Search Of A Song

Have you read any good telephone books lately?
If you ain't then let me recommend one
I've already read that tulsa telephone book through thirteen times
If you don't know any last names it ain't much fun

Readin' that tulsa telephone book, can drive a guy insane
Especially if that girl you're lookin' for has no last name
I gotta find her and tell her, i don't want our love to end
So i'm readin' that tulsa telephone book again

Well, i was in tulsa and didn't have anything goin'
She lived in tulsa and didn't have anything on
She said, "my name is shirley," and i said, "my name is t."
I woke up the next mornin' and she was gone

All of the tulsa operators know my voice now
And they gotta know how long i've been alone
If you meet a girl named shirley with some ribbons in her hair
Would you tell her that she's wanted on the phone

Readin' that tulsa telephone book, can drive a guy insane
Especially if that girl you're lookin' for has no last name
I gotta find her and tell her, i don't want our love to end
So i'm readin' that tulsa telephone book again
I'm readin' that tulsa telephone book again

The iowa weather was 13 below
I had come to des moines for a radio show
I awoke in the evening from a traveler's sleep
With notions of something to eat

The old elevator slid down past the floors
My head and my eyes said "you should have slept more."
The man at the desk said the restaurant was closed
Outside it was 14 below

The lounge was still open and so i walked in
In place of my food i had two double gins
I looked 'round the room, as a tourist would do
That's when i saw the girl in the booth

She sat there and cried in the smoky half-dark
The silent type crying that tears out your heart
Her clothes were not cut in the new modern way
And her suitcase had seen better days

Nobody asked her what caused her such pain
Nobody spoke up, yet no one complained
Without even asking, i knew why she cried
Life is just like that sometimes

The man at the desk said, "it's 15 below."
The bellhop said "yeah man, that's cold...that's cold."
I went back to my room and i wrote down this song
Oh it sure can get cold in des moines

Tossed and turned the night before in some old motel
Subconsciously recallin' some old sinful thing i'd done
My buddy drove the car and those big coal trucks shook us up
As we drove on into hyden in the early morning sun

Past the hound dogs and some domineckered chickens
Temporary-lookin' houses with their lean and bashful kids
Every hundred yards a sign proclaimed that christ was coming soon
And i thought, "well, man, he'd sure be disappointed if he did."

On the way we talked about the 40 miners
Of the 39 who died and one who lived to tell the tale
We stopped for beans and cornbread at the ed & lois cafe
Then went to see the sherrif at the leslie county jail

They took us to the scene of that disaster
I was so surprised to not find any sign of death at all
Just another country hillside with some mudholes and some junk
The mines were deadly silent like a rathole in the wall

"it was just like being right inside of a shotgun."
The old man coughed and lit a cigarette that he had rolled
Back in town i bought a heavy jacket from a store
It was sunny down in hyden but somehow the town was cold

The old man introduced the undertaker
Who seemed refreshed despite the kind of work i knew he did
We talked about the pretty lady from the grand ole opry
An' we talked about the money she was raisin' for the kids

Well, i guess the old man thought we were reporters
He kept reminding me of how his simple name was spelled
Some lady said, "they worth more money now than when they's a-livin'. "
And i'll leave it there 'cause i suppose she told it pretty well

Yeah, i remember it now, we were kids back then livin' down on the farm
We were told that the city could only bring us harm
"how far is the city?" somebody said, and "oh, that's a great big town."
Barbara said, "why, it's a million miles," and the story got around

(chorus)
It's a million miles to the city
From the hills and valleys we know
It's a million miles to the city
And someday we all wanna go

There was a town nearby, but a town is a town, and a city...well, that's
Something else
Our daddy had been to a city but he never was much help
"why the buildings are taller than oak trees." ah, but we knew better than that
Ain't nobody could climb that high, the cities were wide and flat

(chorus)

Well now time has passed and we have grown and travelled far and wide
The cities have changed the kids we were, we see it in each others eyes
But i'd love to go back to those hills again, to the boy i used to be
Where the leaves and the wind and the whippoorwills were part of the land like me

(chorus x 2)

I was working in miami for a day or two
I decided i'd look up a girl that i once knew
I bought some flowers and went to see a girl i used to know
The lady at her door said she had married long ago

Times will change and towns will change; there i was alone
And suddenly i wondered, "would susie be at home?"
So with the flowers in my hand, i walked toward her gate
Someone touched me on the arm and said, "you'll have to wait."

Then i noticed there were people standing in a line
And some of them were holding pretty flowers just like mine
They explained that susie had been in an awful crash
Doctors said that she had just a little while to last

When i walked into her room, i felt a sense of shame
But i heard susie whisper, "i'm awfully glad you came."
She had been the girl that i had always gone to see
When someone that i cared for had been untrue to me

I handed her the flowers and she gently kissed my hand
She said, "don't be embarrassed; you know i understand."
I said, "goodbye" and as i bent to kiss her fevered brow
I heard her whisper, "thank you for the second handed flowers."

Oh, the little lady preacher from the limestone church
I'll never forget her, i guess
She preached each sunday mornin' on the local radio
With a big black bible and a snow-white dress

She was 19 years of age and was developed to a fault
But i will admit she knew the bible well
A little white lace hanky marked the text that she would use
She'd breathe into that microphone and send us all to hell

She had a guitar picker by the name of luther short
A hairy-legged soul lost out in sin
She would turn and smile at luther when the program would commence
With a voice as sweet as angels she would break out in a hymn

I was pickin' for her too with what we call the doghouse bass
I clung to every word that passed her lips
She was down on booze and cigarettes and high on days to come
And she'd punctuate the prophecy with movements of her hips

The lord knows how i loved her, he was there each time she preached
But ol' luther took her home each sunday morn'
Lookin' back i still recall the way it hurt my tender pride
I longed to be a hero but they're made not born

Sometimes ol' luther showed up at the studio half-tight
And smokin' was a thing he liked to do
She never said a word to him but said a prayer for me
I told her in a way that i'd been prayin' for her too

One sunday her old man showed up and said that she was gone
Said she and brother luther had a call
I can see me standin' in that studio that day
I had to face the heartbreak, unemployment and all

I don't know where they are 'cause i ain't seen them people since
Lord if i judge 'em let me give 'em lots o' room
I know ol' luther short and he's a hard ol' boy to change
And i've often sat and wondered who it was converted whom