Alkali... here's mud in yer eye You've been lost in the desert 25 years or more Ah yer whiskey streams And yer gold field dreams Well Lady Luck won't let you dark her door And they tell me your a ghost of a man Lord, I believe it's true And they say you had a woman once But she turned her back on you You old gold minin' hobo Dry well desert rat Alkali Put the bacon on to fry Well, the sun's comin' up and the mule's waitin' for his grain Just a one room shack By the Santa Fe track It's an old lick of earth That's screamin' for a drop of rain And there's a time for work And a time for play And a time for lyin' down And the road might lead to the rainbow's end
A dusty old desert town You old gold minin' hobo Dry well desert rat Alkali Alkali... there's a buzzard in the sky And he's a-countin' his chances on a-pickin' your skinflint bones Ah, raise your hand Throw a curse on the land They're gonna find you one day Lyin' 'neath an unmarked stone Well the desert is a lonely place For a man to lose his head They tell me when you start to talkin' to yourself Lord, you might as well be dead... You old gold minin' hobo Dry well desert rat Alkali Alkali Alkali You old gold minin' hobo Dry well desert rat Alkali Alkali Alkali You old gold minin' hobo Dry well desert rat Alkali