Road Trip: Valley of the Gods National Monument, Utah

~ Desert Rat ~
(lyrics by Michael Martin Murphy)

She sits on the front porch
(Of) the old house that stands scorched
Under the sun stroke of a desert day that choked
Her old man who fell in the sun.

With rattle snakes and keep sakes
Old boxes of Corn Flakes
Grammar phones and gem stones
And three unclaimed door frames
And bleached bones and rocks by the ton.

Good by ol’ desert rat
Ya half crazy wild cat
You knew where it was at
What life’s all about.

Ya saver of catalogs, king of the prairie dogs
Success is survival and you toughed it out,
You toughed it out.

The old loud mouth rock hound
He kept the kids spellbound
Half crazy and sun baked
Ya eared your own grubstake
By breakin’ your back all day long

With junk art and dunk carts
Old Model T parts, frustrated, outdated and uneducated
At eighty you still wrote good songs.

So goodbye of Ol’ Desert Rat
Ya half crazy wild cat
You knew where it was at
What life’s all about.

All ya savers of “Whole Earth” catalogs
Kings of the prairie dogs
Success is survival
We’ll all tough it out

Yes, we’ll all tough it out.