Ballad Of The Devil's Backbone Tavern

(album: Happy To Be Here - 2000)

Old Miss Virgy tended bar at this shack out in the hills
It never made her no money boys but paid of all her bills
Now she must have been 80 years old but her heart was warm and her beer was cold
She gave away more than she ever sold, she's smiling all the time

I used to sing off in the corner every Friday night
To a loud crowd of cowboys, bikers and bar room fights
They were drinking beer, carrying on, not a one of them listening to one of my songs
But old Miss Virgy sang along, she said she knew 'em all by heart

And then one night after closing she poured me a beer
She said: 'Come on over and sit down you little shit, I got something you need to hear'
She said: 'Life ain't easy getting through everybody's gonna make things tough on you'
'But I can tell you right now if you dig what you do, they will never get you down'

She said life's too short to worry, life's too long to wait
Too short not to love everybody, life's too long to hate
I meet a lot of men who haggle and finagle all the time
Trying to save a nickel or make a dime
Not me, no sireee, I ain't got the time

Now I ain't seen Ol' Virgy in must have been about ten years
I've been bumming around this country singing songs for tips and beers
Now the nights are long, the driving's tough
Hotels stink and the pay sucks
But I can't dig what I do enough, so it never gets me down

I say life's too short to worry, life's too long to wait
Too short not to love everybody, life's too long to hate
I meet a lot of men who haggle and finagle all the time
Trying to save a nickel or make a dime
Not me, no sireee, I ain't got the time