Jeff Davis County Blues
Lyrics
After three nights in jail, I head north from Toyahvale
Switch to 285 in Pecos, head up to Red Bluff^
My walk's real steady and my eyes are real cold
But I feel like I'm all of sixteen* years old
Lost in the Travelodge, with the television on with the sound down
I don't feel so tough
Old issues of Sunset magazine to read
Sleep for twelve hours, and** dream about home
I have no place to go, so I drive up to New Mexico
Fix my eyes in the rearview when I cross the state line
And I panic, I guess. and although it's quite late
I take the first exit to 128
I am coming back*** to Midland, I hope you won't mind
Polaroids of the two of us scattered on the passenger's seat
I drive slowly
And evenly^^
And I dream about home
Banter
- It's a song you may find yourself singing if all hope is gone. And you're like, 'Oh, man, this sucks that all hope is gone. I liked it better when there was hope. Guess it's too late to really be worrying about that now, though, and that's what the whole meaning of the word gone is, isn't it.' And maybe you look it up in a dictionary, but there's just a picture of your motel under that. And you think, 'That's really fucked up.' It's like a movie, and you start looking around for cameras — there's no cameras. ( 2011-03-28 Bowery Ballroom wiki unverified)
- Excuse me just a moment while I collect that if I launched into a song from Godspell the rest of my band would just have to wait. [audience: DAY BY DAY!!] It wasn't that, it was - [sings All For The Best, crowd claps along] For the staging, ok, I'll sing All For The Best and you guys take a break... [Isa tunes the violin, Wurster does drums] It's from Godspell, Peter, by Steven Schwartz. One of his biggest musicals.
Peter: I thought you said God Flesh, and I was. Very confused.
JD: No, it's not by Godflesh, it's not on Street Clear. (2023-10-07 Ace of Spades)
Live Performances
Footnotes
- * Variant: fifteen (2023-10-05, 2023-10-07)
- ** Variant: "let me" instead of "and" (2023-10-05)
- *** Variant: "heading home" instead of "coming back" (2023-10-05, 2023-10-07, 2023-10-29)
- ^ Variant: "and I head up" (2023-10-07)
- ^^ Variant: "And I drive evenly" (2023-10-29)