Album: Old Testaments & New Revelations

Nashville Casualty And Life

(Kinky Friedman)
In faded gabardine he used to stand
Down by the Union Station with that ol¡¯ hat in his hand.
A banjo-pickin¡¯ devil, a singin¡¯ rag-time saint.
The young folks called him beautiful, the old folks called him quaint.
And the station-master pointed to the sign
And they busted him for loiterin¡¯ when he was makin¡¯ memories rhyme.
Out in the falling snow he¡¯d sing his song
To a world too cold to listen and too white to sing along.
Just a Nashville casualty and life
Done left him without a dime.
Ever since the good Lord took his wife
You¡¯ll find him strummin¡¯ on the corner all the time.
And most of Music City never the saw the world within the song
Of a Nashville casualty and life ¡ª goes on.
In the attic sets a dusty hat and cane
And the kids they found a banjo there all rusted from the rain.
I strummed a little rusty rag-time beat
And I sang for every soul out on the street.
I could almost see him standin¡¯ in the rain
His black and blinded face reflectin¡¯ all the pain
Of all the years and people passin¡¯ by
And all the ringin¡¯ memories that can make a banjo cry.
Just a Nashville casualty and life
It's a riff that's hell to play.
You sings for your livin¡¯ in the street
And you sleeps in the back of some caf¨¦
And most of Music City never sees the world within the song
Of a Nashville casualty and life ¡ª goes on.