John Prine

Strolling down the highway with my shoes in my hand
I don't talk much i'm a quiet man
Beauty and silence both run deep
And running like crazy while you are alseep

Chorus:
You got news for me,i got nothing for you
Don't pin your blues on me
Just go ahead and do whatever you wish to

Last monday night i saw a fight
Between wednesday and thursday over saturday night
Tuesday asked me what was going on i said,
"sunday's in the meadow and friday's in the corn."

Repeat chorus:

Hocus-pocus, maladjusted
Don't you think my tears get rusted
Steady losing means you ain't using
What you really think is right

Repeat chorus:

Oodles of light what a beautiful sight
Both of god's eyes are shining tonight
Rays and beams of incredible dreams
And i am a quiet man.

Oodles of light what a beautiful sight
Both of god's eyes are shining tonight
Rays and beams of incredible dreams
And i am a quiet man.

Oodles of light what a beautiful sight
Both of god's eyes are shining tonight
Rays and beams of incredible dreams
And i am a quiet man.

When i was a child my family would travel
Down to western kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.

Chorus:
And daddy won't you take me back to muhlenberg county
Down by the green river where paradise lay
Well, i'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister peabody's coal train has hauled it away

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the green river
To the abandoned old prison down by adrie hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.

Repeat chorus:

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.

Repeat chorus:

When i die let my ashes float down the green river
Let my soul roll on up to the rochester dam
I'll be halfway to heaven with paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever i am.

Repeat chorus:

Sam stone came home,
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
But the morphine eased the pain,
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked,
With a purple heart and a monkey on his back.

Chorus:
There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,
Jesus christ died for nothin' i suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm....

Sam stone's welcome home
Didn't last too long.
He went to work when he'd spent his last dime
And sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.
And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains,
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose,
While the kids ran around wearin' other peoples' clothes...

Repeat chorus:

Sam stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the g, i. bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill

Repeat chorus

She was a level-headed dancer on the road to alcohol
And i was just a soldier on my way to montreal
Well she pressed her chest against me
About the time the juke box broke
Yeah, she gave me a peck on the back of the neck
And these are the words she spoke

Chorus:
Blow up your t.v. throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try an find jesus on your own

Well, i sat there at the table and i acted real naive
For i knew that topless lady had something up her sleeve
Well, she danced around the bar room and she did the hoochy-coo
Yeah she sang her song all night long, tellin' me what to do

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Well, i was young and hungry and about to leave that place
When just as i was leavin', well she looked me in the face
I said "you must know the answer."
"she said, "no but i'll give it a try."
And to this very day we've been livin' our way
And here is the reason why

We blew up our t.v. threw away our paper
Went to the country, built us a home
Had a lot of children, fed 'em on peaches
They all found jesus on their own

As the cafe was closing
On a warm summer night
And cathy was cleaning the spoons
The radio played the hit parade
And i hummed a long with the tune
She asked me to change the station
Said the song just drove her insane
But it weren't just the music playing
It was me that she was trying to blame.

Chorus:
And the sky is black and still now
On the hill where the angels sing
Ain't it funny how an old broken bottle
Looks just like a diamond ring
But it's far, far from me

Well, i leaned on my left leg
In the parking lot dirt
And cathy was closing the lights
A june bug flew from the warmth he once knew
And i wished for once i weren't right
Why we used to laugh together
And we'd dance to any old song.
Well, ya know, she still laughs with me
But she waits just a second to long.

Repeat chorus:

Well, i started the engine
And i gave it some gas
And cathy was closing her purse
Well, we hadn't gone far in my beat old car
And i was prepared for the worst.
"will you still see me tomorrow?"
"no, i got too much to do."
Well, a question ain't really a question
If you know the answer too.

Repeat chorus:

While window shopping through the past
I ran across a looking glass
Reflecting moments remaining in a burned out light
Tragic magic prayers of passion
Stay the same through changing fashions
They freeze my mind like water on a winter's night

Spent most of my youth
Out hobo cruising
And all i got for proof
Is rocks in my pockets and dirt in my shoes
So goodbye nonbeliever
Don't you know that i hate to leave here
So long babe, i got the flashback blues.

Photographs show the laughs
Recorded in between the bad times
Happy sailors dancing on a sinking ship
Cloudy skies and dead fruit flies
Waving goodbye with tears in my eyes
Well, sure i made it but ya know it was as hell of a trip.

Spent most of my youth
Out hobo cruising
And all i got for proof
Is rocks in my pockets and dirt in my shoes
And ten times what it grieves you
That's how much more i hate to leave you now
So long babe, i got the flashback blues.

Spent most of my youth
Out hobo cruising
And all i got for proof
Is rocks in my pockets and dirt in my shoes
So goodbye nonbeliever
Don't you know that i hate to leave here
So long babe, i got the flashback blues.

While digesting reader's digest
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, i picked it up and i ran outside
Slapped on my window shield,
And if i could see old betsy ross
I tell her how good i feel.

Chorus:
But your flag decal won't get you
Into heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into heaven any more.

Well, i went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
"if you join the christmas club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free."
Well, i didn't mess around a bit
I took her up on what he said.
And i stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife's forehead.

Repeat chorus:

Well, i got my window shield so filled
With flags i couldn't see.
So, i ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And i'll never understand why the man
Standing in the pearly gates said...

But your flag decal won't get you
Into heaven any more.
We're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into heaven any more.