This Old Skin

It was '96 in South Carolina
That's the place and not the god-damn year
Sitting on the porch out at Bobby's place
Just tugging on a lukewarm beer
And there I was peeping like an old sidewinder
Just an inch or so above the mud
The first to find out that its raining
Is the last to find out its a flood

It was Paradise Valley Nevada
Not far from where the west was won
I am the only black face in the whole damn place
Just a raisin in the blazing sun
And there I am like that old sidewinder
Just wishing that her eggs ain't hatched
And the chain I wear has 'em wishin for the day
When it came with a ball attached

So I'm gonna move, right outta this town
When this old skin stops weighing me down
He was sitting in the very same spot that Otis
Sat to watch the dock of the bay
In the very same spot, that the ships rolled in
Now there's nothing but the mud and the clay
I'm gonna move, right outta this town
When this old skin, is weighing me down
This old skin

Outside Orlando in the sunshine state
Has just upped itself another degree
I am the very last orange of the whole years crop
Hanging dearly to the branch of the tree
And the wind and the spring couldn't do anything
So I'm burning in the sun of the south
That old sidewinder in the dust below
I'm just waiting till it opens its mouth

So I'm gonna move, right outta this town
When this old skin, finally touches the ground
He was sitting in the very same spot that otis
Sat to watch the dock of the bay
The very same spot the ships rolled in
Now there's nothing but the mud and the clay
Now I'm gonna move, right outta this town
When this old skin, finally touches the ground
This old skin
This old skin
This old skin