Tripper

T'was a brisk autumn day
 They remember it well
 Tripper went strolling along
 He was merely a boy his mom's pride and joy
 So sure he could do no wrong
 Running down to the river and up by the tracks
 Pretending he was Jesse James
 With his fathers old hat a stick for a gun
 Tripper walked home in the rain
 Such a glorious sight fresh flowers in bloom
 In the spring when the ice takes to thaw
 But its rough wretched road a man has to go
 Living outside of the law
 For dark dirty cell was Tripper's own hell
 Survival was his battle cry
 If drinking don't kill me or a villainous gun
 He said I'll live 'til I die
 Mother dear, I'm in trouble here
 Far in the distant West
 I lay down on stony ground
 I'm not feeling all the best
 Cold wind on the river and rain on the road
 Every light in the house burning strong
 Somebody saying a sad rosary
 Wondering where Tripper went wrong
 'Cause he met his own maker to a grim undertaker
 Took a knife too deep in the lungs
 In a dim parking lot his very last thoughts
 Were the days he went strolling along