Goodbye, Carolina Blues

(album: Bittersweet - 2016)

Goodbye Carolina
I felt cold and I felt weak
Took a midnight bus from Asheville
Passed like a ghost through Tennessee
Brushed the northern edge of Blacksburg
Like the hair off of your cheeks
I wish I could fall asleep, half-dead in the window seat;
Awake for weeks

Good morning Manhattan
Stopped at Port Authority
I'll take a train under the river
Ride the A out to the G
And I'll walk along your narrow streets
With a dollar cup of coffee
Letting it stain my teeth
Two sugars, a drop of cream
Bittersweet

God damn, I missed you Brooklyn
Caught my breath here on your streets
I left my winter coat in Charlotte
And I'm cursing at the breeze
I'm hiding out from early March
Read the sign hung in our lobby
Elevator broke last week
I walk the stairs to 403

I don't blame you for changing the locks
I think I'd probably do the same if it were me
Now I'm gathering up the courage to knock
Not sure what I'm looking for
I don't know what I want
Do I want anything?
I don't want anything

Well Some college student answers
And my heart crash-lands on the floor
He says he sublet this place last month
He never heard of me before
Well he sees me there collapsing
And he opens up the door
It's all new furniture; I barely recognize it anymore

He says, "I'm sorry, man. I wish that I knew more
I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for
But no Dianne, no, she don't live here anymore"
Anymore, anymore, anymore
Dianne don't live here anymore