Goodbye Old Desert Rat

(Michael Murphey)

She sits on the front porch

Of the old house that stands scorched

Under the sunstroke

Of the desert day that choked

Her old man who fell in the sun.

With rattlesnakes and keepsakes

Old boxes of cornflakes

Gramophones and gemstones

And three unclaimed door frames

And bleached bones and rocks by the ton.

Chorus:

Goodbye old desert rat

You half crazy wildcat

You knew where it was at

What life's all about

Saver of catalogues

King of the prairie dogs

Success is survival

And you toughed it out.

You old loudmouth rock hound

You kept the kids spell bound

Half crazy and sunbaked

You earned your own grubstake

By breaking your back all day long

With junk art and dump carts

And old Model-T parts

Frustrated, outdated

And uneducated

At 80 you still wrote good songs

Repeat Chorus

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