Etta's Tune

(album: The River & The Thread - 2014)

What's the temperature, darlin'?
A hundred or more
Horses pawing at the dust
Violets wilting by the door
But you pour your strongest coffee
And I'll take the battered wheel
We'll drive straight down the river road
Spread a blanket on the hill

What's the temperature, darlin'?
Now don't stare into the past
There was nothing we could change or fix
It was never gonna last
Now don't stare into those photos
Don't analyze my eyes
We're just a mile or two from Memphis
And the rhythm of our lives

A mile or two from Memphis
And I must go away
I tore up all the highways
Now there's nothing left to say
A mile or two from Memphis
And I finally made it home

There were days you paced the kitchen
There were nights that felt like jail
When the phone rang in the dead of night, you would always throw my bail
No you never touched the whiskey and you never took the pills
I traveled for a million miles while you were standing still

What's the temperature, darlin'?
As the daylight fades away
I'll make one last rehearsal
With one foot in the grave
We kept the house on old Nokomis
We kept the polished bass guitar
We kept the tickets and the reels of tape to remember who we are

A mile or two from Memphis
And I must go away
I tore up all the highways
Now there's nothing left to say
A mile or two from Memphis
And I finally made it home

What's the temperature, darlin'?