Drive-By Truckers - Primer Coat lyrics

The old man's out by the swimming pool He goes there to think He talks on the phone sometimes Hardly mentions a thing Said he needed it for his knees He used to swim back in school Graduated in 84, quit drinking in 92 He used to call her a basket case for hanging on like she did The only girl of a foreman's wife She'd never let him forget It comes to women and they survive but when the same comes to men Someone comes for their babies something dies there and then Slinging gravel in parking lots and looking tough on the hood A girl as plain as a primer coat leaves nothing misunderstood Her mother and I through trembling lips, a steady hand on his own The future of every rebel cause, when all the fight in him is gone My sister's marrying in the spring and everything will be fine Mama's planning the wedding, Daddy's planning on crying She's slipping out of her apron strings You best leave him be He's staring through his own taillights and gathering speed