Goodbye Old Desert Rat

She sits on the front porch
Of the old house that stands scorched
Under the sunstroke
Of the desert day that choked
Her old man who fell in the sun

With rattlesnakes and keepsakes
Old boxes of cornflakes
Gramophones and gemstones
And three unclaimed door frames
And bleached bones and rocks by the ton

Goodbye old desert rat
You half crazy wildcat
You knew where it was at
What life's all about
Saver of catalogs
King of the prairie dogs
Success is survival
And you toughed it out

You old loudmouth rock hound
You kept the kids spell bound
Half crazy and sunbaked
You earned your own grubstake
By breaking your back all day long

With junk art and dump carts
And old Model-T parts
Frustrated, outdated
And uneducated
At 80 you still wrote good songs

Goodbye old desert rat
You half crazy wildcat
You knew where it was at
What life's all about
Saver of catalogs
King of the prairie dogs
Success is survival
And you toughed it out