Casey's Last Ride

(album: The Taker/Tulsa - 1971)

Casey joins the hollow sound
Of silent people walking down
The stairway to the subway
In the shadows down below.

Following their footsteps
Through the neon darkened corridors
Of silent desperation
Never speaking to a soul.

The poison air he's breathing
Has the dirty smell of dying
'Cause it's never seen the sunshine
And it's never felt the rain.

Casey minds the arrows
And ignores the fatal echoes
Of the clicking of the turn stops
And the rattle of his chains.

Oh, she said, Casey it's been
So long since I've seen you
Here she said just a kiss
To make a body smile.

See she said I've put on
New stocking just to please you
Lord, she said. Casey
Can you only stay a while?

[Instrumental]

Casey leaves the underground
And stops inside the Golden Crown
For something wet
To wipe away the chill that's in his bones.

Seeing his reflection
In the lives of all the lonely men
Who reach for anything they can
To keep from going home.

Standing in the corner
Casey drinks his final bitter
Never glancing in the mirror
At the people passing by.

Then he stumbles as he's leaving
And he wonders if the reason
Is the beer that's in his belly
Or the tear that's in his eye.

Oh, she said, I suppose
You seldom think about me
Now she said, now
That you've a family of your own.

Still she said it's
So blessed good to feel your body
Lord, she said, Casey
It's a shame to be alone. hmm...