Album: Underneath The Old Red Barn
(Budde/Johnson)

I went  on down to the corner store
To get some smokes and nothing more
Lord knows I couldn’t find what I was looking for
Well, I just got out of five-year stint
Now I’m a freed man and I need my fix
I just don’t seem to know which pack to choose
Ah, back in the clink I smoked my lucky strikes
Now there’s so many choices, I don’t know what to like
Oh, Lord, I got them nicotine blues

I had a real thirst for ice and rye
The bar had ten kinds, didn’t know what to try
Said, “Give me one of each, got nothin’ to lose”
I knocked down eight, kissed the barman’s wife
Then they kicked me out after number nine
Oh, Lord, I got them ice and rye blue
Yeah, they kick me out I’ll have you understand
Now let the Devil find work for these idle hands
Oh, Lord, I got them ice and rye blues

Then I found myself at the Junk Saloon
Oh, I ain’t known a woman since ‘92
Found me a looker and I took her up to her room
Everything was goin’ real swell
She made me squeal and I made her yell
I paid her fee, then I took her out for a beer
About six months later I started to fear
Now, I got me a sore comes back twice a year
Oh, Lord, I got them dirty whore blues

Well, a freed man’s life, it ain’t all cracked up
I can’t find my smokes and I drink too much
I got me a pain between my legs to boot
Lord, I been thinkin’, I been thinkin’ real hard
I prefer me a life behind bars
Gotta rob me a bank, that’s what I’m a gonna do
Because I had me a taste, now I had enough
The only life for me is if they lock me up
Oh, Lord, I got them freed man blues