Lyrics Jackie Skates - Janis Ian

Jackie Skates

Jackie skates across the freeway
Like a suicide in steel
Scatters ashes of her memory
To the wind behind the wheel
It’s the road that makes the rhythm
It’s the chalk marks on her soul
It’s the task that he’s been given
To keep her memory whole
She was younger than forever
She was older than goodbye
And she never saw the trucker
As he wove across the line
Just another L.A. drifter
With the freeway in her blood
And she never knew what hit her
When she ran right out of luck
It was Jackie called the parents
It was Jackie won the prize
It was Jackie fed the silence
When they could not meet his eyes
It was Jackie took the body
It was Jackie packed her stuff
And he never really loved her
Though he liked her well enough
Sometimes at night he sees her
From the corner of his eye
And he’s just about to tell her
That he has no alibi
It’s fate that makes the moment
That’s what he wants to cry
But the words he needs are frozen
He can’t even say goodbye
Jackie skates across the freeway
Like a suicide in steel
Scatters ashes of her memory
To the wind behind the wheel