From the recording Since Melvin Left Memphis
A favorite of the band. I wish the sounds on this live recording were better, but I like the performance.
The initial images for this are a road trip Paul & I took from Kansas City to Minnesota to Rochester and from what is now called The Great Flood of 1993. The line about the silos is not an exaggeration -- you can see pictures online.
Lyrics
I don't think of where I've been
I just keep on driving for days on end
And I knew I'd never see my mama again
When she said"I don't say goodbye
I don't say goodbye
But don't you become mesmerized
By the whispering moon over North Wisconsin
She'll lean up from the lake for a kiss
Then she'd tell you lies, then she'd tell you lies"
So I walk through the fields and I hide my eyes
Out underneath that great midwestern sky
And I hope I can change my life
Out underneath that great midwestern sky
Yeah, yeah
Well I was there when the levees broke
You could barely see the silos for all the water
And back east they said"damn the rain"
Well I said, hell, let it fall, yeah let it fall
Cause out here we're just slaves to mother nature
She holds back like her love from a lonely child
For every year that she washed us away
Five more she didn't come at all, she didn't come at all
So I walk through the fields and I hide my eyes
Out underneath that great midwestern sky
And I hope I can do what's right
Out underneath that great midwestern sky
Give me what I need to live
But I know she won't take me home
And I know she can't forget him
But she never will leave me alone
Yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, oh
So I walk through the fields and I hide my eyes
Out underneath that great midwestern sky
And I hope I can do what's right
Out underneath that great midwestern sky
And I walk and I wait and I hope and I pray
And I know that there may be a million ways to fly
And I hope I can change my life
Out underneath that great midwestern sky
Yeah, yeah, yeah