Tom Russell Follow

Have you ever seen Duluth?
When the Great Lake waves are pounding?
There must be some way out of there
You might end up lost or drowning

And the polkas at the Polish dance hall
And the carnivals of spring
And the rock and roll on an upright piano
Didn't the kid make the high school rafters ring?

The kid who heard Howlin' Wolf
Every night on the radio
From those airwaves blasting
All the way up from Nogales, Mexico

And the duck-tail boys in St. Cloud
Polished up their chords of fame
And the armory show
Where Buddy Holly sang 'The Learning of the Game'

Some things never change, on the Mesabi Iron Range
Where that wild north country rain screams
"Please don't make me do the work my father did"
Bethlehem of the troubadour kid

Have you ever heard that desert wind blow
'Cross the City of the Angels?
I was the kid playing football
In that Catholic school deep down in Mexican town

Richie Valens sang, 'La Bamba'
It's 80 miles to Tijuana
I stole my parent's car one night
Never found the dark-eyed ladies in the cowboy songs

Just a kid listening
To my Uncle George's record player
While the great vinyl wheel spun
Round its holy prayer

And steel guitars in the Telecaster bars
Of the San Joaquin towns
And 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright'
From the wild Mesabi Holy Ground

Some things never change
It's still the learning of the game
You might end up on Fifth and Main, kid
Please don't make me go out like my father did
I wanna sing like the troubadour kid