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We drove North from New Olreans |
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In a '55 Bel Air |
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Music on the bench seat, |
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Expectation in the air |
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There's room for a man to wear his hat |
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In this church of red and cream |
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And we are pilgrims of purpose, |
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Driving in this dream |
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[Chorus] |
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"Is that a '55, man?" |
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"I used to drive a '55..." |
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"What you got under the hood, man? " |
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"She makes me feel alive" |
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Live oaks draped with Spanish moss |
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Like rags of shawls and ball gowns |
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Shade the shame-faced dowagers |
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Along the river road |
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And on the bluffs at Vicksburg |
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The big guns still guard the river |
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Menacing the barges |
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As they haul their heavy load |
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[Chorus] |
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Outside the closed down undertakers |
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Two Lincoln hearses stand there |
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Rusting and a pealing |
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In the unforgiving air |
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The church where Sonny Boy lies buried |
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Burned down to the ground |
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The crucifix of rusty nails |
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And ashes there I found |
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There's no panther in the canebreak |
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No devil at the crossroads |
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But here's a '57 Cadillac |
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And it's tearing down the road |
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It's Birdbreath and his buddies |
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They're coming from Chicago |
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They got a fifth of whiskey |
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They got a hundred miles to go |
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They are barrelling from the West Side |
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To the Gulf of Mexico |
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[Chorus] |
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Oh the young people they left here |
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For the steel mills and assembly lines |
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The marshalling yards and the killing floor |
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Many years ago |
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But the cities they are dying |
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And the industries are wasted |
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And there sure is no good reason |
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To come back here any more |
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[Chorus] |
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We drove North from New Olreans |
|
In a '55 Bel Air |
|
Got music on the bench seat, |
|
Expectation in the air |
|
There's room for a man to wear his hat |
|
In this church of red and cream |
|
And we are pilgrims of purpose, |
|
Driving in this dream |
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[Chorus] |