Rodney Crowell - Highway 17 Lyrics
I put away fifteen grand doing one-night stands mostly liquor stores and fillin' stationsMe and this peepin' Tom by the name of J.D. Swan and any number of his odd blood relationsThis was armed robbery 1957 and mostly our getaways were cleanThen I'd pay off the boys and bury my bread out on Highway 17I had five kids and a wife with one dress and a yard full of cars that wouldn't runningMy two oldest boys they were on to my noise they despised what their daddy doneBut I did my thing the best I could maing plans by the light of dayAnd then night would fall and it was time to call and I was always on my wayNow J.D. he was crazy and he was inbred he drank whiskey like it was goin' out of styleYou know I should have seen it coming the writing was on the wall he was getting just a little too loose and wildAnnd he made his mistake out on Airline Drive, you know those North Houston cops are quickThey blew a hole in J.D. the size of Dallas and put a lump on my head with the brunt of a nightstickYou know 5-10 in Huntsville ain't no good times boys but I walked that line do you know what I mean'Cause my mind was snug on that hole I dug out on Highway 17I said my mind was snug on that hole I dug out on Highway 17So I served my time only way I knew how thinking big and making plansAll about the way I was gonna change the world when I get my hands on that 15 grandYou know C.W. and Herschel my two oldest boys they took care of their momma and their little sisters the best way that they couldDealing dimes and stealing hubcaps you know pretty soon they were doing goodSo I walked out those prison gates a free man on the first day of November 19 and '63I kissed my wife and I hugged my babies but they didn't seem the same to meYou know the boys looked on they were already grown it was written across their eyes and their facesI'm the perfect sample of a bad example gone forever from their gracesBut baby six long years and a lot can change many miles beyond your wildest dreamsBut a six-lane wide modern interstate ride out on Highway 17Lord they sunk my ship 'neath a concrete strip out on Highway 17Man they broke my back they built a concrete track out on Highway 17Well, you know it ain't funny but they buried my money out on Highway 17
