Tom Russell - Mesabi lyrics

Have you ever seen Duluth? When the Great Lake waves are pounding? There must be some way out of there You might end up lost or drowning And the polkas at the Polish dance hall And the carnivals of spring And the rock and roll on an upright piano Didn't the kid make the high school rafters ring? The kid who heard Howlin' Wolf Every night on the radio From those airwaves blasting All the way up from Nogales, Mexico And the duck-tail boys in St. Cloud Polished up their chords of fame And the armory show Where Buddy Holly sang 'The Learning of the Game' Some things never change, on the Mesabi Iron Range Where that wild north country rain screams "Please don't make me do the work my father did" Bethlehem of the troubadour kid Have you ever heard that desert wind blow 'Cross the City of the Angels? I was the kid playing football In that Catholic school deep down in Mexican town Richie Valens sang, 'La Bamba' It's 80 miles to Tijuana I stole my parent's car one night Never found the dark-eyed ladies in the cowboy songs Just a kid listening To my Uncle George's record player While the great vinyl wheel spun Round its holy prayer And steel guitars in the Telecaster bars Of the San Joaquin towns And 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright' From the wild Mesabi Holy Ground Some things never change It's still the learning of the game You might end up on Fifth and Main, kid Please don't make me go out like my father did I wanna sing like the troubadour kid