Brownsville Girl

We pulled up where Henry Porter used to live

He owned a wreckin' lot outside of

Town about a mile

Ruby was in the backyard hanging

Clothes, she had her red hair tied back

She saw us come rolling up in a trail of dust

She says, "Henry ain't here but you can

Come on in, he'll be back in a little while."

Then she told us how times were tough

And about how she was thinkin' of bummin' a

Ride back to from where she started

But she changes subject every time money came up

She said, "Welcome to the land of the living dead."

But you can tell she was so broken-hearted

She said, "Even the swap meets

Around here are getting pretty corrupt."

"How far are y'all going?" Ruby asked us with a sigh

"We're going all the way 'til the wheels fall off and burn

'Til the sun peels the paint and the seat

Covers fade and the water moccasin dies."

Ruby just smiled and said, "Ah, you know some babies never learn."

Something about that movie though

Well I just can't get it out of my head

But I can't remember why I was in it

Or what part I was supposed to play

All I remember about it was Gregory Peck and the way people moved

And a lot of them seemed to be lookin' my way

Brownsville girl with your Brownsville

Curls, teeth like pearls shining like the

Moon above

Brownsville girl

If you show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey

Love

Well, they were looking for somebody with a pompadour

I was crossin' the street when shots rang out

I didn't know whether to duck or to run, so I ran

"We got him cornered in the churchyard," I heard somebody shout

Well, you saw my picture in the Corpus

Christi Tribune. Underneath it, it said, "A

Man with no alibi."

You went out on a limb to testify for me, you said I was with you

Then when I saw you break down in

Front of the judge and cry real tears

It was the best acting I saw anybody do

Now I've always been the kind of person

That doesn't like to trespass but sometimes

You just find yourself over the line

Oh if there's an original thought out there, I could use it right now

You know, I feel pretty good

But that ain't sayin' much. I could feel a whole lot

Better

If you were just here by my side to show me how

Well, I'm standin' in line in the

Rain to see a movie starring Gregory Peck

Yeah, but you know it's not the one that I had in mind

He's got a new one out now, I don't even know what it's about

But I'll see him in anything so I'll stand in line

Brownsville girl with your Brownsville

Curls, teeth like pearls shining like the

Moon above

Brownsville girl

Show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey

Love

You know, it's funny how things never

Turn out the way you had 'em planned

The only thing we knew for sure about

Henry Porter is that his name wasn't Henry

Porter

And you know there was somethin' about

You baby that I liked that was always too

Good for this world

Just like you always said there was

Something about me you liked that I left behind

In the French Quarter

Strange how people who suffer together

Have stronger connections than people who

Are most content

I don't have any regrets, they can talk about me plenty when I'm gone

You always said people don't do what they

Believe in, they just do what's most convenient

Then they repent

And I always said, "Hang on to me

Baby, and let's hope that the roof stays on."

There was a movie I seen one time, I think I sat through it twice

I don't remember who I was or where I was bound

All I remember about it was it starred

Gregory Peck, he wore a gun and he was shot

In the back

Seems like a long time ago, long before the stars were torn down

Brownsville girl with your Brownsville

Curls, teeth like pearls shining like the

Moon above

Brownsville girl

Show me all around the world, Brownsville girl, you're my honey

Love