said the momma to the baby in the corn:
you are my first born
you shall here on in be known as the spotlight kid
and the morning cry of the rooster
the baby lay alone
and the old cow in the green grass
shed white tears in the red hot sun
and the spotlight kid stood under the moon that evening
giving her alibis and eating her a la modes
and the ice cream man searching high and low
for his a la modes [2x]
and the green frogs croaking around his abode
and the mud cat pond by the old willow road
all night the village waited and the spotlight kid never showed
she was up on the mountain
telling her alibis and eating her a la modes
momma still knew she was the one
she was the one who stole the pie from old momma's eye
window bare rocking chair groaning like a grizzly bear
[repeating of parts]

two trains
two railroad tracks
one going and the other one coming back
there goes my baby on that old train
i say: come back, come back baby, come back
click clack, click clack
there's my baby waving her handkerchief down
my ears stand up when i hear that sound
this time it sounds like it's for keeps
click clack, click clack
i get down on the ground
with the gravel around
i pray to the lord
that train will stop
turn around and around
and never stop till it drops my baby off
now i had this girl
threatening to leave me all the time
maybe you had a girl like that
i - you all the time crying
well i had this girl
threatening to leave me all the time
threatening to go down
go down to new orleans
and get herself lost and found
maybe you had a girl like this
she has always said to go down to new orleans
and get herself lost and found
come on, i'll play it for you
let me tell you about it [2x]
there were two railroad tracks
click clack, click clack
one of them leaving and the other one coming back
i was two tears from you, baby
you were going to new orleans
you were going way up the tracks
the train was leaving
i could see you waving your handkerchief


***

GROW FINS

now here you come baby
with your tail dragging the gravy
you know your p's and q's
what you don't know baby
is you're giving me the blues
you got juice on your chin
eggs on the drain-board
pie on your wall
dirt on the rug
i come home late
and i stumble and swore
you won't even give me a hug
you had my things all laid out
laid out by the door
i'm leaving
i'm gonna take up with a mermaid
and leave you land-lubbing women alone [2x]
o, you said you had it together once
now your head is around the bend
i'm telling you woman
you better get it back together again
i wanna grow fins
and go back in the water again
if you don't leave me alone
i'm gonna take up with a mermaid
[repeating of parts]


***

there ain't no santa claus on the evening stage
there ain't no way to pull the curtain
and hide from hunger's rage
there ain't no town to stop in
there ain't no time to stop in
there ain't no straw for my horse
there ain't no straw for my bed
there ain't no comfort in cold boards
there ain't no rumors or food for my stomach
and someday i'm gonna be saved
because i gotta eat and drink
and breathe and sleep and i'm a slave
down in hominy's grotto there's a soul dying and leaving
every second on the evening stage
there's a soul dying and rotting
and picking some new kind of cotton
with his fingers broken and his heart back and forgotten
and there ain't no santa claus on the evening stage

into the sun in my glider
there's a shadow beside her
up and down through the blue [2x]
clouds give me my silent cue
and i'm up in my glider down
i'm up in my glider
with a shadow beside her
there's gonna be bits of rain
on her windowpane
up in my glider [2x]
there's no shadow beside her
when it's a-thundering and lightning
yeah boys, it's getting pretty frightening
o, i feel like an outsider
till the sun shows through
and right on cue
there's a shadow beside her
[repeating of parts]
well, i'm telling you boys
there ain't no noise
ain't no noise [2x]
me and my baby never gonna bring my glider down [2x]