Old Joe

Here comes the Freightliner
Can you feel it your soul?
Just look at the pictures shake
Come on Buddy let's go
10 dollars to the one of us
Who doesn't budge from this line
The Freightliner coming
Keep a foot off the rail and you'll be fine

Stealin' candy from the liquor store
Then ride our bikes out to the lake
Drop the loot under the oak tree
Eat Baby Ruths until we ache
Let's get home before Daddy does
And hide the rest under the bed

Not a bad day's earnings
For a couple of boys trying to act like men

Masculine summers and retrofit mothers
Are wandering 'round town with our sisters and brothers
Spreading the seed of an old fashioned creed
As Old Joe builds his shack
On a stack of seaweed

And he hands me an old brew
From an ancient ice chest
That tastes like ripe onions
And a pinch of orange zest

As my stomach turn sour
I looked at the can
July '84 hollered out the old man
And I looked at Old Joe
And I say how'd ya know
That's what left of a six-pack that you and Bud stole
And I said God Damn Joe!
That was 20 years ago
And his jigsaw teeth
Grinned apropos