He Was The King Of The Back Seat



Of Drunk Reverie



Saw Him Escorted Out Of A Mets Game



On Network T.v.



Kept His Head In The Clouds



With Any Cheap High He Could Cull



In His Cancered Impala



And His Hog Shirts



And His Head Tapes Played Dull



He Lived In A Company House



In The Pardeesville Woods



With A Stir Crazy Dog



And A Graveyard Of Old "jimmy" Hoods



Sundays We'd Run For His Stash



At The New York State Line



That Summer When Moments Of



Circumstance Altered Like Wine



CHORUS



This Is For The Man



This Is For The Days That We Killed



Was It My Wind Of Change



Or Just A Breeze At The Top Of The Hill



He Didn't Talk The Gold Ring



He Just Schemed For A Skeleton Key



But When You Think You Met Thunder



You Only See What Your Head Wants To See



He Threw Back-mountain Parties



Five Deep At The "well"



With His Girlfriend, Louise, Who'd Get Lit



And Tell Us All "go To Hell"



Then He'd Get Liquored Up



And Throw Me His Keys And Yell "drive"



With Him And Louise In The Back



Doin' "american Pie"



He'd Talk Of Out West Over Beer



And The Garbage That We Ate



'bout The Punk Band He'd Managed



In Phoenix In '78



I Was This Kid Of Sixteen The Enamored



Impressionable Kind



In The Poetic Pull Of The Passion



Of Life With The Lines



CHORUS



He Just Disappeared That Mid-august



Not Even A Shout



Then I Read In The News That September



That His Time Had Run Out



How He Tried To Outrun A State Trooper



Down 93 South



A Charge Of Possession Is Why He Fled



Said Word Of Mouth



The Paper Said Nothin' Was Left



But The Seats And The Frame



And I Read In The Write-up



For The First Time His Real Name;



Birthplace Unknown, Not From Nowhere



No Close Family



Just A Wild Running River



That Cut It Too Fast To The Sea



I Still Raise A Glass Once A Year



On The Night That He Died



Though Hindsight Says



He Only Let Me Believe That We'd Ride



Lord, He Still Taps A Vein In My Mind



Like A Summer Rain Cools



Long After That River Ran Dry



And Reality Ruled



CHORUS 2X