Life's Little Highway

(album: Michael Franks - 1973)

My dead bluegrass daddy
As soon as he had me
We bummed here from green Tennessee
He bought him a milktruck
And he tried hard to stay drunk
He bounced me a ride on his knee

He said "Life's little highway
Has its ups and downs
You will laugh and then you will cry
And whenever some bad weather
Brings you down you just
Climb on your banjo and fly"

My dead Blue Ridge mamma
Was not a soprano
But she sang me a true lullaby
She'd whisper a riddle
And she'd whine on her fiddle
Bring tears into everyone's eyes

He said "Life's little highway
Has its ups and downs
You will laugh and then you will cry
And whenever some bad weather
Brings you down you just
Climb on your fiddle and fly"

My dead blue-eyed childhood
Got lost in the wildwood
One day with the Queen of Mistakes
I've paid my dues plenty
And I'm no longer twenty
Still kissing luck's hand for a break

He said "Life's little highway
Has its ups and downs
You will laugh and then you will cry
And whenever some bad weather
Brings you down you just
Climb on your music and fly"