Willamette

My brother left home one night no one knew where he went
No calls of letters were sent
Then it was just my mom and me alone in that house
She'd lock herself in her room and she'd only come out to
To go to work and at night she'd come home
Sometimes with three men she'd lock herself in with them
So I'd go down to Jackson's and I'd hide in his yard
He'd sneak me out beer until his house was clear

At night at night we'd sit on the banks of the polluted
Willamette River and we'd try and we'd try to piece together
Our lives away from there

My brother came home two years later when I was sixteen
He said he'd gone to California and was a merchant marine
He rented us a house a house with a yard and a
House with a porch and at night we'd sit out on it
He'd tell me of Thailand and Singapore and of Hong Kong and
Vietnam and the money he made and the women he had and
The miles and miles of sea and sand the miles and miles of

I still have his car and his horse shoe chain and the
Letters that he wrote me but he never would send and
I still have the tattoo Harry gave both of us and
I still have his leather boots and his pocket knife but
My brother's been gone for three weeks and no one knows

Where he went or even why or how

Now Jackson stays at my place 'cause he can't stay at home
Now Jackson stays at my place 'cause he can't stand his folks