Down over the window come the dazzling, sunlit rays
Through the back alleys, through the blinds, another one of them endless days.
Honeybees are buzzing, leaves begin to stir,
I'm in love with my second cousin, I tell myself I could be happy forever with her.
I keep listening for footsteps, but I ain't ever hearing any,
From the boat I fish for bullheads, I catch a lot, sometimes too many.
A summer breeze is blowing, a squall is setting in,
Sometimes it's just plain stupid to get into any kind of wind.
Well, the old men 'round here, sometimes they get on bad terms with the younger men,
Old, young, age don't carry weight, it doesn't matter in the end.
One of the boss's hangers-on sometimes comes to call at times you least expect,
Try to bully you, strong arm you, inspire you with fear, it has the opposite effect.
There's a new grove of trees on the outskirts of town, the old one is long gone,
Timber, two foot six across, burns with the bark still on.
They say times are hard, if you don't believe it, you can just follow your nose.
It don't bother me, times are hard everywhere, we'll just have to see how it goes.
My old man, he's like some feudal lord, got more lives than a cat.
I never seen him quarrel with my mother even once, things come alive or they fall flat.
You can smell the pine-wood burning, you can hear the school-bell ring,
Gotta get up near the teacher if you can if you wanna learn anything.
Romeo, he said to Juliet, "You got a poor complexion. It doesn't give your appearance a very youthful touch."
Juliet said back to Romeo, "Why don't you just shove off if it bothers you so much?"
They got – all got outta here any way they could, cold rain can give you the shivers.
They went down the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, all the rest of them rebel rivers.
If you ever try to interfere with me or cross my path again, you do so at the peril of your life.
I'm not quite as cool or forgiving as I sound, I've seen 'nough heartache and strife.
My grandfather was a duck trapper, he could do it with just dragnets and ropes,
My grandmother could sew new dresses out of old cloth, I don't know if they had any dreams or hopes.
I had 'em once though, I suppose, to go along with all the ring-dancing Christmas carols on all the Christmas Eves,
I left all my dreams and hopes buried under tobacco leaves.
Not always easy kicking someone out, gotta wait awhile, it can be an unpleasant task.
Sometimes somebody wants you to give something up and, tears or not, it's too much to ask.