Fats Domino

Fats Domino 1928-2017

I was hitch-hiking to New Orleans
I was thinking about his song
Mississippi was so foreign
The road went on and on

I sauntered down the highway
Time was on my side
Everythin’ goin’ my way
I’d always get a ride

(In Iowa, no one saunters
not that I ever saw
No one pauses no one wanders
that’s all against the law)  

I’d sing the song and keep on walkin’
Raise my thumb, a car would come
Then there would be a bit of talkin’
Where y’all goin’? Where y’all from?

An old woman pulled up in a Lincoln
To the floor, Lordy we was soarin’
To her query I started singin’
“I’m hitch-hikin’ to New Orleans.”

She laughed out loud, slapped the dash
“Y’all are darned funny!”
And though I was sorta low on cash
That ride was easy money

She’d had a husband and oh she loved him
He’d passed on well-insured
She said faith can provide a comfort
but a Continental cured

I thought we were headed for disaster
She hit the brakes and screamed
Shook her fist yelled “Bastard!”
At what she thought obscene

Every road-kill was so treated
Murderers took her breath
This was fairly oft repeated
The South is full of death

She said she once saw Fats Domino
He got the joint a jumpin’
We tried to find him on the radio
But just preachers sayin nothin’

We parted ways in an hour or so
Went on our separate missions
I walked on singin’ slow
Footsteps to the rhythm

I thought of her the other day
When I heard the news
And thought about how we pray
In car seats and in pews

Someday there will come a day
We will walk no further
And the wind will bear our dust away
Our time here just a murmur

Oh for this life I am ever grateful
And the end is no disaster
But sometimes I feel hateful
Oh Time you are such a bastard!

But put on your shoes, walk with me
Let’s take the long way home
Enjoy the view, talk with me
Someday we’ll walk alone

There was a time I believed
I’d cross the River Jordan
But this road is just right for me
I’m walkin’ to New Orleans

I’m walkin’ to New Orleans