Steep Canyon Rangers - Fare Thee Well, Carolina Gals

{Verse 1}
Those loose-limbed gals would swing their feet
Down the airport side of Franklin Street
I watch them in a not quite innocent way
I'm looking at them this evening
Thinking about the plans I put on hold
While the town got smaller and the days unrolled
There ain't but two stories told
And this one's about leaving

{Verse 2}
Well, I remember Katy, then Rosalie
I was pressing my luck when I tried for three
Some shrink from a shameful deed
Me, I'll do it gladly
If I hand you a line, you know that's true
If I give you a couple, it's yours to choose
One story from a total of two
Has got a good chance to end badly

{Chorus}
So fare thee well, Carolina gals
I'm going where you can't find me
There'll be trouble in the days to come
And a lot more fools behind me

{Verse 3}
Well, I was just a lad about yay tall
Sniffing that glue in the Northgate Mall
Down where the anchorman say "you all"
And kindness is a show for strangers
All them b-school boys and old hippie men
Sweating in the sun to no clear end
I made a medium to poor boyfriend
And a pretty good house painter

{Chorus}
So fare thee well, Carolina gals
I'm going where you can't find me
There'll be trouble in the days to come
And a lot more fools behind me

{Verse 4}
From his home, dad's heart couldn't be hewn
Like a simple phrase in a well-made tune
The Stack-a-Lee will sound good on the moon
You don't need a king chair and a hound dog
He'd sing the blues, I'd just smile
I was such a calm and settled child
Thanking the Lord, never dreaming the while
He was laying out my downfall

{Verse 5}
So with my hair in my eyes and my chest out-swelled
I stood on her porch and I buzzed the bell
Peeking 'round the blind, knowing full well
That her folks was gone to Boston
And they mean "quiet" when they say "lights out"
But that was love making and it made me shout
Daddy would have come home fast, no doubt
If he knew what the weekend had cost him

{Chorus}
So fare thee well, Carolina gals
I'm going where you can't find me
There'll be trouble in the days to come
And a lot more fools behind me

{Bridge}
Now if a cruel word escapes my mind
Don't worry, baby, it's just the wine
On second thought, it's not the wine
It's just me talkin'
We men pour out our problems
Like we think that they're unique
They cheer when a baby starts to speak
Ought to give them a prize for stoppin'
Baby, don't you be too surprised
If I cash in the farm after mama dies
Get a Cadillac and just ride
Where the Pacific meets the bumper
Stop looking at me like I've lost a screw
Like things had to lead where they led to
With the house half-gone to kudzu
I'd be lucky to get a clunker
By luck I landed in the upper South
By God, I gotta make my own way out
I should have read the signs by now
I should have heard the locusts buzzing
For old Tommy Thompson's dead and gone
And I've been feeling not so strong
Chapel Hill hasn't done me wrong
It was fine until it wasn't

{Chorus}
So fare thee well, Carolina gals
I'm going where you can't find me
There'll be trouble in the days to come
And a lot more fools

{Outro}
Fare thee well, Carolina gals
I'm going where you can't find me
There'll be trouble in the days to come
And a lot more fools behind me