Jesse James Symphony

(album: Jordan: The Comeback - 1990)

Jesse James is running, and he'll never be at rest
Till the day they fold his arms across his chest

He's a long way from the cradle
And his Ma's authority
But it only seems a minute
Since she stood over his bed
And she tried to tell him something
Now what the hell was it she said?

Jesse James is thinking of the breaks he never had
And the gene that cursed his blood group rhesus-bad
Jesse James lived money
His account was in the black
Till the day he stopped a bullet with his back

Well, the zip code may read Vegas
But the heart beats Tupelo
And a footstep is such a small thing
That it's neither here nor there
Till you string those steps together
And find home is way back, way back where?

Jesse James was never
Part of life's great symphony
All he heard were penny whistles out of key
Jesse James he promised,
'I will never die afraid'
That boy perjured every vow he ever made