Slow Turning

I woke up in a hotel and i didn't know what to do
I turned the tv on and wrote a letter to you
The news was talkin' 'bout a dragnet up on the interstate
Said they were lookin' for a cadillac with tennessee plates

Since i left california baby, things have gotten worse
Seems the land of opportunity for me is just a curse
Tell that judge in bakersfield that my trial will have to wait
Down here they're lookin' for a cadillac with tennessee plates

It was somewhere in nevada, it was cold outside
She was shiverin' in the dark, so i offered her a ride
Three bank jobs later, four cars hot wired
We crossed the mississippi like an oil slick fire

If they'd known what we was up to they wouldn't 'a let us in
When we landed in memphis like original sin
Up elvis presley boulevard to the graceland gates
See we were lookin' for a cadillac with tennessee plates

Well, there must have been a dozen of them parked in that garage
And there wasn't one lincoln and there wasn't one dodge
And there wasn't one japanese model or make
Just pretty, pretty cadillacs with tennessee plates

She saw him singing once when she was seventeen
And ever since that day she's been living in between
I was never king of nothin' but this wild weekend
Anyway he wouldn't care, hell he gave them to his friends

Well this ain't no hotel i'm writin' you from
It's the tennessee prison up at brushy mountain
Where yours sincerely's doin' five to eight
Stampin' out my time makin' tennessee plates

Whatever you don't follow that shot, she rang those words out with all she got
With a baby and the laundry in the chevrolet, well he thought about following anyway
But he drove 'em to the strip mall laundromat,
In his three day beard and his red man hat
Trudy washed their bell bottom jeans, while that baby just sat there lookin' mean

Chorus:
Trudy and dave
They're out of their minds
Trudy and dave
They're out of their minds

Well david put a match to a lucky strike
And the smoke curled up 'round his head how he liked,
It made him feel a little mysterious
'til trudy said "david honey, what about us?"

So he thought about them and those shots ringing out
And other things he shouldn't be thinking about
Like how it wasn't them at all, just life that was mean
And how a twenty dollar pistol made him feel so clean

Chorus

Didn't mean to do it baby, but i did it for love
The same shot his daddy heard before him
A shot that can really blow you away
And when it is fired his mama told him
"david, you'll follow it to your grave"

Well trudy and dave, those crazy kids
Had a baby of their own and you heard what they did
In the middle of a strip mall shots rang out
Shots heard all over the world no doubt

'cause it was there in the paper the very next day
'bout a couple and a baby and a chevrolet
Who shot up an automatic teller machine
Took the money for the laundry and drove away clean

Chorus

I didn't say we wouldn't hurt anymore
That's how you learn, you just get burned
But we don't have to feel like dirt anymore
Though love's not earned, baby it's our turn
We were always looking for true north
With our heads in the clouds, just a little off course
I left the motor running, now if you're feeling down and out

Chorus:
Come on baby drive south, with the one you love
Come on baby drive south, with the one you love

I'm not talkin' 'bout retreatin' little girl
Gonna take our stand, in this chevy van
Windows open on the rest of the world
Holdin' hands, all the way to dixieland
We've been tryin' to turn our lives around
Since we were little kids, it's been wearin' us down
Don't turn away now darlin' lets fire it up and wind it out

Chorus

Bridge:
I heard your mama callin', i think she was just stallin'

Don't know who she was talkin' to, baby me and you
We could go down with a smile on, don't bother to pack your nylons
Just keep them pretty legs showin', it gets hot down where we're goin'
We were always looking for true north
With our heads in the clouds, just a little off course
I left the motor running, now if you're feeling down and out
Come on baby drive, come on baby drive south, come on baby drive south

Chorus

That girl you were seein' back in '72
Somethin' 'bout a hotel room and bath water in your shoes
Were you into your catholic thing then or some other stew
Were you both holed up in that hotel room practicing voodoo

Chorus:
It'll come to you
Don't look back, it'll come to you
In the middle of the night, with you covers pulled up tight
It'll come to you

And that business partner you took for every red cent
You can't even remember where all of that money went
Some on liquor and women, maybe a little rent
But as far as paying it back, buddy, you ain't made a dent

Chorus

Yes they'll all be standin' 'round you in your sleep
Askin' for a promise you couldn't keep
'cause back when you were hollow inside
You were tryin' to puff yourself up with your own foolish pride

Now you're happily married with a wife and kids of you're own
But sometimes in the closet at night you can hear them rattlin' bones
Takin' bets on your future and your current postal zone
It's a spooky equation, but check out yourself, jack, you're the great unknown

Chorus

You get up in the morning
You get on the bus
You don't think about nothing
You don't raise no fuss

You come home in the evening
Turn the tv on
You ain't going nowhere
You just ride along, ride along, ride along

You get the sunday paper
On saturday night
You read the travel section
Until you're all uptight

'cause it's almost monday
Jack you know that song
You ain't going nowhere
You just ride along, ride along, ride along

They talk about you in the press
They got you figured out i guess
Though you never heard of the guy they mention
Sometimes that girl she'll slip you a kiss
But she's just another somnambulist
And you're tired of sleepwalking
The cats out but he ain't talking

You're just another joker
With one chance in hell
Of ever pullin' that trigger
Of ever feelin' too well

Yeah but you just might do it
Just to prove them all wrong
'cause you ain't going nowhere
You just ride along, ride along, ride along
You just ride along, ride along, ride along
Git along git along git along
You just ride along, ride along, ride along
You just ride along, ride along, ride along
You just...

When i was a boy,
I thought it just came to ya'
But i never could tell what's mine
So it didn't matter anyway

My only pride and joy
Was this racket down here
Bangin' on an old guitar
And singin' what i had to say

I always thought our house was haunted
But nobody said boo to me
I never did get what i wanted
Now i get what i need

Chorus:
It's been a slow turnin'
From the inside out
A slow turnin'
But you come about

Slow learnin'
But you learn to sway
A slow turnin' baby
Not fade away

Now i'm in my car
I got the radio on
I'm yellin' at the kids in the back seat
'cause they're bangin' like charlie watts

You think you've come so far
In this one horse town
Then she's laughin' that crazy laugh
'cause you haven't left the parkin' lot

Time is short and here's the damn thing about it
You're gonna die, gonna die for sure
And you can learn to life with love or without it
But there ain't no cure

There's just a...

Chorus