Her father was a failure, her mother was a comfort
To a doctor and a lawyer and an Indian Chief
The shirt ran out of buttons
He lost all his marbles at a baseball game
And they went on relief
The bank took away their diplomas
They locked them up inside of the chest
And she moved away to Oklahoma
And got a tattoo on the side of her breast
God-damn, my thoughts are still hard from lying on the sofa
On the night she was over in my backyard
Yeah, we was shooting the breeze out amongst the trees
When a shot rang low
And left her standing down by the side of the road
Down by the side of the road

Father, have mercy, get her a nurse please
She's almost alone
I saw her hand reaching out for the telephone
We'd rather see her locked up inside a home
Than see her standing down by the side of the road
Down by the side of the road

Headlights flashing on her skirt in the wind
Yonder comes a truck, it's drove by two men
Shotgun man leaned out and said
Do you want to take a ride out in the pale moonlight light light light?"
Too long in the hot sun
She could've been Miss Wisconsin a long time ago
Spent too much time inside of the early show
We'd have bought her a ticket, but she didn't want to go
She was standing down by the side of the road
Down by the side of the road

Headlights flashing caught a skirt in the wind
Yonder comes a truck, drove by two men
Shotgun man leaned out and said
"Do you want to take a ride out into the pale moonlight?"

Her father was a failure, her Mother was a comfort
To a doctor and lawyer and an Indian Chief
The shirt made out of buttons
He lost all his marbles at a baseball game
And they went on relief
The bank took away their diplomas
They locked them up inside of the chest
And she moved away to Oklahoma
And got a tattoo on the side of her breast
God-damn, my thoughts are still hard
From lying on the sofa on the night she was over in my backyard
We was shooting the breeze out amongst the trees
When a shot rang low
And left her standing down by the side of the road
Down by the side of the road
Down by the side of the road
Down by the side of the road