Me & Bobby Mcgee

See the ruin on the hill where the smoke is hanging still
Like an echo of an age long forgotten;
There's a story of a home crushed beneath those blackened stones
And the roof which fell before the beams were rotten.
Cecil darby loved his wife, and he laboured all his life
To provide her with material possessions;
And he built for her a home of the finest wood and stone
And the building soon became his sole obsession.

Oh, it took three hundred days for the timbers to be raised
And the silhouette was seen for miles around;
And the gables reached as high as the eagles in the sky -
But it only took one night to bring it down,
When darby's castle tumbled to the ground.

Though they shared a common bed there was precious little said
In the moments that were set aside for sleeping:
For his busy dreams were filled with the rooms he'd yet to build
And he never heard young ellen darby weeping.
Then one night he heard a sound, as he laid his pencil down,
And he traced it to her door and turned the handle;
And the pale light of the moon through the window of the room
Split the shadows where two bodies lay entangled.

Oh, it took three hundred days for the timbers to be raised
And the silhouette was seen for miles around;
And the gables reached as high as the eagles in the sky -
But it only took one night to bring it down,
When darby's castle tumbled to the ground.

Duvalier was a bitter man who cursed the morning sun
That brought a new betrayal every day.

He shunned the world of mortals and the sound of human tongues
And blessed the night that chased their sight away.
A disillusioned dreamer who would never love again
Who'd tried of it and found that it was rotten.
Prefering perfect strangers to the company of friends
Because strangers are so easily forgotten.

Chorus:
Oh, it's hard to keep believing when you know you've been decieved.
To face a lie and dare to try again, but there's nothing like a woman
With a spell of make believe to make a new believer of a man.


Duvalier took the fickle turns of fortune in his stride
Expecting next to nothing out of life.
Till fortune found a girl who fanned a flame he thought had died
Whose burning beauty cut him like a knife.
She touched him through the senses that his mind could not control.
Then smiling stepped aside and watched him fall.
Betrayed by his own body and the hunger in his soul
Duvalier was a dreamer after all.

Chorus
Oh, it's hard to keep believing when you know you've been decieved.
To face a lie and dare to try again, but there's nothing like a woman
With a spell of make believe to make a new believer of a man.

[voice: it was winter time in nashville, down on music city row
And i was looking for a place to get myself out of the cold, to warm
The frozen feeling that was eating at my soul, and keep the chilly
Wind off my guitar; my thirsty wanted whiskey, my hungry needed
Beans; but it'd been a month of pay days since i'd heard that eagle
Scream; so with a stomach full of empty and pocket full of dreams
I left my pride and stepped inside a bar (actually i guess you'd
Call it a tavern). cigarette smoke to the ceiling and sawdust on the
Floor.

Friendly shadows. i saw that there was just one old man sitting
At the bar; and in the mirror i could see him checking me with my
Guitar; he turned and said "come up here boy and show us what you
Are". i said "i'm dry" and he bought me a beer. he nodded at my
Guitar and said "it's a tough life ain't it?" i just looked at him
And he said "you ain't making any money, are you?" i said "you've
Been reading my mail". he just smiled and said "let me see that
Guitar: i got something you ought to hear". then he laid
It on me.....]

If you waste your time a-talking to the people who don't listen
To the things that you are saying who do you think's going to hear?
And if you should die explaining how the things that they complain about
Are things they could be changing, who d'you think's goin' to care?

There were other lonely singers in a world turned deaf and blind who
Were crucified for what they tried to show,
And their voices have been scattered by the swirling winds of time,
'cause the truth remains that no-one wants to know!

[voice: well, the old man was a stranger, but i'd heard his song before;
Back when failure had me locked out on the wrong side of the door; when
No-one stood behind me but my shadow on the floor and lonesome was more
Than a state of mind. you see, the devil haunts a hungry man; if you
Don't want to join him you've got to beat him. i ain't sayin' i beat the
Devil, but i drank his beer for nothing, and then i stole his song!]

And you still can hear me singing to the people who don't listen
To the things that i am saying, praying someone's going to hear;
And i guess i'll die explaining how the things that they complain about
Are things they could be changing, hoping someone's goin' to care.

I was born a lonely singer and i'm bound to die the same
But i've got to feed the hunger in my soul;
And if i never have a nickel i won't ever die of shame
'cause i don't believe that no-one wants to know!

I come from just the other side of nowhere
To this big time lonesome town.
They got a lot of ice and snow here,
Half as cold as all the people i've found.
Every way i try to go here seems to bring me down.
I've seen about enough to know where i belong.

I've got a mind to see the headlights shining
On that old white line between my heart and home.
Sick of spendin' sundays wishing they were mondays
Sittin' in a park alone.
So give my best to anyone who's left who ever done me
Any lovin' way but wrong.
Tell 'em that the pride of just the other side o nowhere's
Goin' home.

Takin' nothin' back to show there
For these dues i've paid.
But the soul i almost sold here
And the body i've been givin' away.
Fadin' from the neon nighttime glow here,
Headin' for the light of day,
Just the other side of nowhere, goin' home.

I've got a mind to see the headlights shinin'
On that old white line between my heart and home.
Sick of spendin' sundays wishin' they were mondays,
Sittin' in a park alone.
So give my best to anyone who's left who ever done me
Any lovin' way but wrong.
Tell them that the pride of just the other side of nowhere's
Goin' home.
Just the other side on nowhere, goin' home