Tom Russell Follow

James Dean died 'neath the tree of heaven

Brother Donald Turnipspeed must have
Looked the wrong damn way

Oh, that German Porsche was burning
As the hawks took to the air
Forty miles from Paso Robles, in a land
Called, 'Way out there'

In a land called, 'way out there' my brothers
In a land called, 'way out there'
Forty miles from Paso Robles
In a land called, 'way out there'

Come look outside the window, mama
Something wicked this way comes
The carnival is breaking ground
With its roustabouts and bums

And the hoochie koochie dancing girls
With the sawdust in their hair
And the band played John Phillip Sousa
In a land called, 'Way out there'

All we've learned about love and violence
Comes from bibles and movie magazines
But what goes down in the trenches, baby
It's like nothing you've ever seen

People tearing people up, good God
It makes me scared
Heaven take me beyond all this
To a land called, 'Way up there'