Song Description

Ode to a car and childhood memory

Lyrics

Verse 1:
Etched deep into my memory
Is a world that's no longer there
Filled with black and white TV
And Tiparillo smoke in the air
My dad would get home from work every evening around seven o'clock
I'd be standing at the window waiting for him to turn on to our block
Then he'd pull up to our house just past the traffic light at Second and Main
And he'd give me a wave from the end of the drive
In our Chevy Biscayne

Verse 2:
The bottom of the Chevrolet line
The first new car that he ever bought
But to him it was as fine
As any Cadillac on the lot
On Saturdays he'd wake me up at seven and we'd drive into town
At the barbershop he'd show me off to everybody hanging around
Then he'd take me for a burger at this joint just off the county two-lane
And when we got home I'd help him polish the chrome
On our Chevy Biscayne

Bridge:
But as I started getting older
Seems I saw my father less
He and mom were always fighting
At some point he'd had enough I guess
Heard the revving of the engine
Very late one winter's night
I looked out my bedroom window
Watched those tail-lights fade from sight

Verse 3:
I didn't get a letter goodbye
I didn't get a phone call hello
I didn't ask why
I'm not sure I even wanted to know
Mom took a job on the switchboard at the Viking Hotel
Managed to support us both till I was old enough to pitch in as well
Still in all that time I never heard her speak about my father again
But in her bottom dresser drawer there was a photo I saw
Of him in our Chevy Biscayne

Verse 4:
I guess I can honestly say
I don't think about him much anymore
Someone said he passed away
From a heart attack in '74
I'm married now myself and I've got kids ages seven and three
On Saturdays I take 'em into town in our new SUV
But ain't it funny how a memory can keep on rattling 'round in your brain?
And every now and then I feel like I'm behind the wheel
Of our Chevy Biscayne