[Verse 1: Desert-rock male lead, powerful shouted, hard driving drums] I blew into Caliche at nineteen on a busted Greyhound seat Forty dollars and a duffel bag and asphalt meltin' in the heat Copper mine was hirin' and the diner had a room Old Mae said, you won't last, you're a tumbleweed, you'll blow on soon Everybody had a family and a grandpa in the ground I was just a kid who drifted in and drifted all around They would bet on when I'd leave and they would laugh it in my face But I kept on pourin' coffee and I learned to love the place [Chorus: Desert-rock male lead, huge shouted chorus, sun-baked guitar riff] Everybody blew away but me Every preacher, every teacher, every family tree They called me tumbleweed, they swore I'd never stay Everybody blew away but me [Verse 2: Desert-rock male lead, harder, heavy bass] Then the copper price fell sideways and they shut the mine in March And the state put in a bypass and the town just lost its heart First the Hendersons, the Ortegas, then the preacher and the school Then the bank put up a sign, and then the sheriff, then the pool Mae was last, she hugged me hard and put the diner keys in hand Said I always figured you'd go first, I guess I misread the man Now it's me and fourteen trucks a day and the coyotes and the sun And a town sign full of bullet holes that says population one [Chorus: Desert-rock male lead, huge shouted chorus, sun-baked guitar riff] Everybody blew away but me Every preacher, every teacher, every family tree They called me tumbleweed, they swore I'd never stay Everybody blew away but me [Bridge: Desert-rock male lead, gear-change riff, wide and loud] Fourteen trucks a day still need the diesel and the pie Fourteen strangers and a cup of coffee and goodbye I keep the sign lit every night out on the empty road 'Cause somebody's gotta be here when the drifters need a home [Verse 3: Desert-rock male lead, powerful shouted, hard driving drums] Then a kid got off the westbound with a duffel and a stare Forty dollars in her pocket and the desert in her hair And I poured her out a coffee and I told her, kid, you'll go She said, mister, I might stay a while, and I said, I know [Final Chorus: Desert-rock male lead, huge shouted chorus, sun-baked guitar riff] Everybody blew away but me Every preacher, every teacher, every family tree They called me tumbleweed, they swore I'd never stay Everybody blew away but me [End]
