We drove north from New Orleans In a '55 Bel Air Music on the bench-seat Expectation in the air There's room for a man to wear his hat In this church of red and cream We are pilgrims of purpose Driving in this dream 'Is that a '55, man?' 'I used to drive a '55' 'What you got under the hood, man?' 'She makes me feel alive' Live oaks draped with Spanish moss Like rags of shawls and ball gowns Shade the shame-faced dowagers Along the river road And on the bluffs at Vicksburg The big guns still guard the river Menacing the barges as they haul their heavy load 'Is that a '55, man?' 'I used to drive a '55' 'What you got under the hood, man?' 'She makes me feel alive' Outside the closed-down undertakers Two Lincoln hearses stand there Rusting and a-pealing in the unforgiving air The church where Sonny Boy lies buried Burned down to the ground A crucifix of rusty nails and ashes There I found There's no panther in the cane-break No devil at the crossroads But here's a '57 Cadillac and it's tearing down the road
It's Bird-breath and his buddies They're coming from Chicago They've got a fifth of whiskey They've got a hundred miles to go They are barrelling from the West Side To the gulf of Mexico 'Is that a '55, man?' 'I used to drive a '55' 'What you got under the hood, man?' 'She makes me feel alive' The young people they left here For the steel-mills and a**embly lines For the marshalling yards and the k**ing floor Many years ago But the cities they are dying And the industries are wasted And there sure is no good reason To come back here any more 'Is that a '55, man?' 'I used to drive a '55' 'What you got under the hood, man?' 'She makes me feel alive' We drove north from New Orleans In a '55 Bel Air Got music on the bench-seat Expectation in the air There's room for a man to wear his hat In this church of red and cream And we are pilgrims of purpose Driving in this dream 'Is that a '55, man?' 'I used to drive a '55' 'What you got under the hood, man?' 'She makes me feel alive'