Everything was almost decided when we were young
You'll stay poor like your family before
And I'll keep hustling
On the backroads and in the cities I sang for me
And we always knew like the driver to the screw
What was meant to be
My head was in the drift smoke
My heart was in the words
Of the poet and the hobo you never heard
Lost time in an ashtray
And misery in a fold
'Cause somewhere in the distance
Was a canvas of gold
Grabbed ideas looking out the window
Of a driving mind
A two lane frame up and down again
For a dream I can't deny
And when we got caught in the silence we made amends
The wind blew your name to the lock on the chain
And my dead thoughts walked again
My head was in the drift smoke
My heart was in the words
Of the poet and the hobo you never heard
Lost time in an ashtray
And misery in a fold
'Cause somewhere in the distance
Was a canvas of gold
Train chuggin' to health and glory on the poverty line
It galloped off the track
Pushed down the grass
Crushed the crossing sign
And when night fell we read a chapter
From every book we wrote
And I'll say it to you what lies in the truth
With the bread we never broke
My head was in the drift smoke
My heart was in the words
Of the poet and the hobo you never heard
Lost time in an ashtray
And misery in a fold
'Cause somewhere in the distance
Was a canvas of gold