“Disability Blues"

 

c. 2025 Rod Ice

All rights reserved

(7-25)

 

Sitting alone in a funk and a daze

Wondering why I decided to stay

Somebody said that there’s a fall for a fool

When you brush up on the golden rule

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

Sitting silent, with my face in my hands

Trying to remember playing in a band

My guitar wasn’t primo, perhaps

But I damn sure followed Hound Dog’s roadmap

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

How does it feel when you ain’t got a friend?

Pretty much like every day since then

I never cried about the hand of fate

‘Cause it was always hard cheese on my dinner plate

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

I got loved, and left in the lurch

Kicked out of Sunday School, up at the church

Went walking home with no socks or shoes

What else is a poor boy gonna do?

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

The judge said, “It’s time to repay!”

I should have bargained with the magistrate

But instead, I toughed it out and learned

Life is rough when the bridges burn

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

On my knees, looking through a storm grate

Coughing up what I could not escape

The best advice I got was, “Leave it alone!”

But I ignored, the ringing of my telephone

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

Broke and busted is my new address

I’m damn sure no overnight success

I heard laughter, and happened to see

The old bum they were teasing was me

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

Slept in my truck for more than a day

Under a bridge back in New York State

Every morning brought a sunrise chance

But I was already dumped at the dance

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

I might have turned around this hopeless affair

Got my ass, out of the electric chair

But too late, I came to know

That there’s more to life than taking it slow

That’s the way it goes

‘When good times run cold

 

Stood up tall, at the river’s edge

Rambling and ready for whatever came next

With a promise, a wing and a prayer

Looking down at the deep made me scared

That’s the way it goes

‘When good times run cold

 

Don’t bother to bury my bones

I doesn’t matter that I walked these streets, alone

When the breeze blows my ashes away

You’ll have forgotten that I went astray

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

Somebody said it’s a natural fact

You get stronger, after a heart attack

I’ve survived too many to complain

They just make me glad to lessen the pain

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

A bottle neck turned up in the air

Whiskey fills my throat, and empties my cares

If I wanted to debate the details

I would have studied books, not slugs and snails

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

She looked at me like a painted rock

Said, “Boy, you must be good at picking a lock!”

It made me grin that she felt so sure

I was glad to spend a minute with her

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

On the road out of town, I went

After packing up, and folding my tent

The last thing I saw was a pillar of salt

And I knew everything was my own fault

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold

 

That’s the way it goes

When good times run cold