That Same Old Dotted Line

(album: Tracks & Trains - 1971)

It's a friendly looking freight train that's a pulling down the track
And once again another town is a looking at my back
And another tender woman cries begging me to stay
That's a game I'm never gonna play
She calls it love but it's that same ole dotted line

I know the roll of a box car and the smell of Georgia pine
The hunger of a prison cell when a woman's on your mind
And the way this world can treat you cold as if you don't belong
Oh high and mighty 'll tell you that you're wrong wrong
Just because you do not sign that same ole dotted line

They say someday I'll have to pay the bill
But if it's on a dotted line I swear I never will
Now a man can live on easy street if he'll just close his eyes
Learn the art of moving up and study compromise
Well half a truth is still a lie no matter how it's told
But you can be a member of the fold
All you gotta do is sign that same ole dotted line

Oh the preachers and the teachers and the mothers of this land
They'd like to bend and shape you and help you be a man
Making plans and growing roots and laying money back
And you may never live before you die
Once they've got your name upon that same ole dotted line

They say someday I'll have to pay the bill
But if it's on a dotted line I swear I never will
So wave to me in passing and if you think I'm wrong
Don't try to sell me anything I only need a song
And let me have the feel of life the laughter and the tears
And when I die I'll know that I was here
Just don't think I'm gonna sign that same ole dotted line
Just don't think I'm gonna sign that same ole dotted line