Haley's Comet - Dave Alvin

«Do you know who I am?»

said Bill Haley

In a pancake house near the Rio Grande

The waitress said, «I don’t know you from diddley»

«To me you’re just another tired old man»

He walked alone down on Main street

A hot wind was blowing up from the south

There were two eyes staring in a pawn shop window

And a whiskey bottle was lifted up to his mouth

There was no moon shining on the Rio Grande

As a truck of migrants pulled through town

And the jukebox was busted at the bus de-pot

When Haley’s Comet hit the ground

He blacked out all the windows in his bedroom

He was talking to the ceiling and the walls

He closed his eyes and hit the stage in 1955

As the screams of the children filled the hall

This cop walked into a pancake house in Texas

And ordered up a couple of cups to go

And he tells the waitress, «Hey, I just found the body

Of some guy who was famous long ago»