Blaze Foley's Clay Pigeons - John Prine's cover by Toni Lindgren

 

I'm goin' down to the Greyhound station

Gonna get a ticket to ride

Gonna find that lady with two or three kids

And sit down by her side.

Ride 'til the sun comes up and down around me

'Bout two or three times

Smokin' cigarettes in the last seat

Tryin' to hide my sorrow from the people I meet

And get along with it all.

Go down where the people say y'all

Sing a song with a friend

Change the shape that I'm in

And get back in the game and start playin' again.

I'd like to stay, but I might have to go

To start over again

Might go back down to Texas

Might go to somewhere that I've never been.

And get up in the mornin' and go out at night

And I won't have to go home

Get used to bein' alone

Change the words to this song

And start singin' again.

I'm tired of runnin' 'round

Lookin' for answers to questions that I already know

I could build me a castle of memories

Just to have somewhere to go.

Count the days and the nights that it takes

To get back in the saddle again

Feed the pigeons some clay, turn the night into day

And start talkin' again when I know what to say.

I'm goin' down to the Greyhound station

Gonna get a ticket to ride

Gonna find that lady with two or three kids

And sit down by her side.

Ride 'til the sun comes up and down around me

'Bout two or three times

Smokin' cigarettes in the last seat

Try to hide my sorrow from the people I meet

And get along with it all.

Go down where the people say y'all

Feed the pigeons some clay

Turn the night into day

And start talkin' again when I know what to say.

      "Clay Pigeons" is a song about personal renewal, starting over, and seeking quiet peace after a hard life. It was written by the Texas outlaw country musician Blaze Foley, and later made famous by John Prine, who loved the track so much he felt he should have written it himself.