John Prine — Down By the Side of the Road

Her father was a failure, her mother was a comfort To a doctor and a lawyer and an Indian Chief The shirt ran out of buttons He lost all his marbles at a baseball game And they went on relief The bank took away their diplomas They locked them up inside of the chest And she moved away to Oklahoma And got a tattoo on the side of her breast God-damn, my thoughts are still hard from lying on the sofa On the night she was over in my backyard Yeah, we was shooting the breeze out amongst the trees When a shot rang low And left her standing down by the side of the road Down by the side of the road Father, have mercy, get her a nurse please She's almost alone I saw her hand reaching out for the telephone We'd rather see her locked up inside a home Than see her standing down by the side of the road Down by the side of the road Headlights flashing on her skirt in the wind Yonder comes a truck, it's drove by two men Shotgun man leaned out and said Do you want to take a ride out in the pale moonlight light light light?" Too long in the hot sun She could've been Miss Wisconsin a long time ago Spent too much time inside of the early show We'd have bought her a ticket, but she didn't want to go She was standing down by the side of the road Down by the side of the road Headlights flashing caught a skirt in the wind Yonder comes a truck, drove by two men Shotgun man leaned out and said "Do you want to take a ride out into the pale moonlight?" Her father was a failure, her Mother was a comfort To a doctor and lawyer and an Indian Chief The shirt made out of buttons He lost all his marbles at a baseball game And they went on relief The bank took away their diplomas They locked them up inside of the chest And she moved away to Oklahoma And got a tattoo on the side of her breast God-damn, my thoughts are still hard From lying on the sofa on the night she was over in my backyard We was shooting the breeze out amongst the trees When a shot rang low And left her standing down by the side of the road Down by the side of the road Down by the side of the road Down by the side of the road