This Old Car - Ellis Paul

This old car has seen the ages since the second of the world wars

Bought by a Jersey family on the cutting edge of poor

A ragged wife and weary children stricken with the chore

Of a restless man of thirty-five who dreamed he lived for more

Im hating my surroundings and my soul Im sure is dead

I will die a hollow, bitter man with a gun against my head

I need some time to drive alone to feel the wind of the life Ive blown

I may be back, but dont expect that this car will find me home

After two thousand turns of the gauge, he hid his wedding band

And lost the keys in a musty room to lust and a womans hand

She stole off with her lover

He was a dressed-up blues-harp man

And they chased the road to Chicago for the blues

From any raging band

This old car has seen the ages since the second of the world wars

Its seen a man in his final stagesseen two lovers opening doors

But the doors jammed shut and struck up the band

When the blues man asked for more

The woman heard no harmony in the blues

Of old Chicago lore

In a back field in a farmers lot, a boy-man finds the car

Bought for a song by his father, its been ten years off the tar

A motionless engine is a curse

To a boy with a ready heart

In a boxed-up town the dreams abound

But never get their start