She was a rocket out of Bakersfield, she was gone at seventeen
All the locals called her Cannonball, fastest thing they'd ever seen
She found a fishing boat named Adderley
Riding low and needing hands, she could not resist the poetry
The crescent city's got its plans for you
And she flies like a cannonball, she sails high above it all
She'll run to where the music takes her
Higher than she knows she's ever been before
She'll flash like a meteor that burns so brief and bright
Like a cannonball tonight
She spends the weekends down on Frenchman Street
Spending her wages on the band
Takes just a moment for them to fall in love
Takes a lifetime to understand
Why she flies like a cannonball, she sails high above it all
She'll run to where the music takes her
Higher than she knows she's ever been before
She'll flash like a meteor that burns so brief and bright
Like a cannonball tonight
They say good girls should be quiet
She don't even care, she breaks every rule in the game
And all the bad boys want to make sure she got home all right
But they burn up in her flame, Cannonball's her name
And she flies like a cannonball, she sails high above it all
She'll run to where the music takes her
Higher than she knows she's ever been before
She'll flash like a meteor that burns so brief and bright
Like a cannonball tonight
They say good girls should know their place
But she's already there, she breaks every rule in the game
And all the bad boys try to make sure she got home all right
But they burn up in her flame, Cannonball's her name