Black-Throated Wind (Live in Veneta, Oregon, August 27, 1972)

Bringing me down
I'm running aground
Blind in the light of the interstate cars
Passing me by
The buses and semis
Plunging like stones from a slingshot on Mars
But I'm here by the road
Bound to the load
I picked up in ten thousand cafes and bars
Alone with the rush of the drivers who won't pick me up
The highway, the moon, the clouds, and the stars

Black-throated wind keeps on pouring in
With its words of a life where nothing is new
Ah, Mother American Night, I'm lost from the light
Oh, I'm drowning in you

I left St. Louis, City of Blues
In the midst of a storm I'd rather forget
Tried to pretend it came to an end
'Cause you weren't the woman I thought I once met
But I can't deny, oh, times have gone by
I never had doubts or thoughts of regret
And I was a man when all this began
Who wouldn't think twice about being there yet

Black-throated wind whisper mix in
It's speaking of life that passes like dew
Forced me to see you've done better by me
Better by me than I've done by you

What's to be found, racing around
You carry your pain wherever you go
Full of the blues, trying to lose
You ain't gonna learn what you don't want to know
So I give you my eyes, and all of their lies
Please help them to learn as well as to see
Capture a glance, oh, and make it a dance
Of looking at you looking at me

Black-throated wind keeps on pouring in
With its words of a lie that could almost be true
Ah, Mother American Night, here comes the light
Turn around, that's what I'm going to do
Oh, I'm going back home, that's what I'm going to do
Yes, I'll turn around, that's what I'm going to do
Well, I'm going back home, that's what I'm going to do
Oh I, oh I'm coming with you
Oh I, oh I'm coming with you
You've done better by me than I've done by you
Oh I, oh I'm coming with you
Oh, I'm going back home, that's what I'm going to do
Oh I, oh I'm coming with you

Alright, alright, alrighty, righty, righty
Uh, the lost kid situation has come up via the headphones
That there's a whole bunch of lost kids down in the kid tent
Crying 'cause they haven't seen their mommies and daddies for months
So, uh, if you've got a kiddie out there, go look for 'em