Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
O'Keefe
It was closin' time tryin' to beat the clock
Waitin' for a woman as fast as her talk
When up limped a crippled woman
Lookin' just a little too slick
She said, There's only two kinds in the end of it
The dead, of course, and the quick
And the dead, of course, stand naked
With their backs against the wall
Now there's two ways you can have it son, she said
Mine or not at all
She'd thrown away her crutches
But I knew that I'd need mine
In Northern California
Where the palm tree meets the pine
She was a much older woman
You can always tell by the shoes
She dealt in fools and gamblers
And boys who played the blues
Her body smelled like roses look
Her nails were sharp and long
Her heart, she said, was an open book
And on every page a song
So I helped her with her braces
Said the pleasure was all mine (m'am)
In Northern California
Where the palm tree meets the pine
Like all of us she had her dreams
Not the least was true romance
But I knew I'd lost the handle
When she softly sighed, "Let's dance"
She love me like she knew I was
An outlay on the run
And in the morning, when I woke
I was the crippled one
She'd left me like she found me
Right in the nick of time
In Northern California
Where the palm tree meets the pine
Yup, in Northern California
Where the palm tree meets the pine