Lyrics Copper Canteen - James McMurtry

Copper Canteen

Honey don’t you be yellin' at me when I’m cleaning my gun
I’ll wash the blood of the tailgate when deer season’s done
We got one more weekend to go
And I’d like to kill one more doe
So I’ll shovel the side walk again cause you’re still in a stew
And I bet the bridge tender’s widow won’t mind that I can’t please you
She sure got the run of the men
Out here where the pickin’s are thin there’s not much to do
I woke up last night
In the grip of a fright
Scared to breathe for I might make a noise
But this life that we crave
So little we save
'tween the grandparent’s graves and the grandchildren’s toys
We grew up hard
And our children don’t know what that means
We turned into our parents before we were out of our teens
Through series of Chevys and Fords
The occasional spin round the floor at the Copper Canteen
Now the bix boxes out on the bypass are shavin us thin
I guess we’ll hold on a couple more years till the pension kicks in
Then we’ll sell all the stock in the store
Leave only the lock on the door and wonder what then
When I wake up at night
In the grip of a fright
And you hold me so tight to your chest
And your breath on my skin
Still pulls me back in
Till I’m weigthless and then I can rest
So if Monseigneur should pull you aside as you’re leavin the church
And I’m out on the ice droppin lines for the walleye and perch
Tell 'em it’s not your job to bring me to the fold
And I’d rather stand out in the cold
And honey I know
The woodpile’s low and you can’t close the flue
So I’ll split up a couple more chords 'fore the winter time’s through
Hold on to your rosary beads
Leave me to my mischievous deeds like we always do