Story Behind The Song

One can't avoid high-voltage culture shock when one moves from Arkansas to California. Sitting outside a bar in Bakersfield, cooling down an overheated Chevy S-10, counting my dwindling stack of green, I was reflecting on my old band and beautiful Arkansas, questioning why I had chosen to leave. My wife, however, was spinning around the parking lot and laughing, oblivious to any of my fears. Her courage became mine and we drove on.

Song Description

A homesick fever finally breaks.

Lyrics

And we're glad you came - it's good to see you here again
For the hundredth time. I can't believe you haven't changed.
But back in Arkansas, we must have thought that we were kings,
But this is Bakersfield, and now it doesn't mean a thing.

There was the whippoorwill - I swear I never heard one out here.
And the sky has changed; we have lost our Milky Way.
But back in Arkansas, every hour a shooting star.
But this is Bakersfield, and this, another lousy bar.

And I can't believe we come this far, and I'm worried about the car,
And about the rain.
And we got taken on this bag of weed, and I taste another seed,
So let's go home.

And we made it here; I can't believe we made it past Needles.
So let's have a beer: we won't be buying nothing for a while.
But things are better now that I can finally stretch my wings,
And this is Bakersfield, and you've become my everything.