The Armadillo Jackal

(album: No Kinda Dancer - 1984)

The evening sun was sinking down, a chill north wind a-blows
The new plowed ground was cooling fast, the river rolls and flows
Beneath the two lane concrete river bridge between my place
And town on that hot bed farm to market road they call 1291

I'm saying son you'll see me searchin'; sizzling down that broad highway
Dollar signs in both my eyes, I'm seeking out my prey
I'm praying, "Jesus, will you send me just another three or four?"
They pay two-fifty down in Hallettsville, 3 dollars, maybe more

And more than likely they'll be out tonight a-wandering from the farms
Waddling down 1291 to keep their bodies warm
I'm talking walking belts and neckties and boots for rodeo
They don't run too fast, don't waste much gas, I'm making lots o'dough

The armadillo, the armadillo
The armadillo

Never sees me when I hit him with my brights
His life don't pass before his eyes, he's blinded by my lights
And so I hit him with my bumper doing sixty, sixty-five
They take 'em frozen down in Hallettsville, they don't take 'em alive

The jackal cried, the jackal cried
The jackal cried

Look there's two of them a-walking down the line
I can't believe my luck tonight this here makes twenty-nine
And so he rolled the first one running, the second was too fast
His breaks and laughter squealing as he stomped down on the gas

Good God, his car was sideways flying
When the bridge wall met his door
The impact shook the river bed
His foot went through the floor

Forevermore, forevermore
Forevermore

Was his last moment from the bridge wall to the stream
From the speckled blood around his smile a-spewing gasoline
And then he screamed his raspy epitaph before he turned to flame
They pay two-fifty down in Hallettsville, I ain't the one to blame

Ain't it a shame, the jackal cried?
The armadillo, the armadillo
The armadillo, the armadillo
The armadillo