From a carnie show and a rodeo that shared a three day stand A cowboy met a fiery carnie queen In new spring nights amit the lights of the painted carnie van They laughed and loved and shared short lived dreams
Bu the carnie show and the rodeo went their seperate ways And the carnie season bloomed and soon moved on And I was born on a winter morn to the dark eyed carnie queen The too-late-son of something that was gone
The blacksheep child that grew up wild From the seed the four winds sowed Unwanted son of ice and fire an orphan of the road
I was still a child when my mama died of a chill that closed her eyes So I was left to grow up on my own Without a name too wild to tame no one cared to try So mostly I was mostly left alone
In dingy bars and cold boxcars hobo jungle camps I joined the men who drift from town to town The surgin' flood of restless blood flowed inside my veins I'd never find the time to settle down
The blacksheep child that grew up wild...
In the misty rain I caught the train that slowed down through the town And I pulled myself into the boxcar door In a passing light in the deep grey night I saw the still dark form Of an old man lying sick upon the floor
And he said I tried to find her but they told me that she'd died And that she'd left an only son behind And I tried to find him but I never did but I know I could rest in peace If I could just see him once before I die
I found a match and I quickly scratched it into a flickerin' flame Then I held it close and I gently raised his head My mother sir I said of her I have her same dark eyes He smiled a cowboy smile and then was dead
