Lyrics:Trucker's Coffee
| Trucker's Coffee |
| By: They Might Be Giants |
| Year: 1999 |
This poem is called Trucker's Coffee: The Legend of Highway 17B. I was driving down the highway past 17B Sipping trucker's coffee from Teek & Vee's Pulling a bedful of apples due for Lumberland Not a care in the world, just time on my hands So I pulled into another truck stop, in some tiny town And saw four hitchhikers not making a sound They were dressed like hippies, from another time But acting like mimes, flashing silent peace signs Although these kids bugged me, I knew I'd give 'em a ride And at the checkout counter, I pulled one aside But he just tossed me a travel mug and started to laugh A silent laugh, like mimes when they laugh And that mime stuff was getting a little bit tired When the three other hippies waved me outside And I couldn't believe what I saw with my eyes In the parking lot stood twenty glowing semis It was a hippie truck convention, all crazy with lights Swirling all around like Biology slides All the kids were so silent, they made not a sound Even as the semis all bounced up and down There was a Kenworth rig all done up in orange Like the Ken Kesey bus with kids on the door hinge There was a Peterbilt tanker poppin' wheelies and a-leaking Some kind of Kool-Aid from a hole in the ceiling One truck was on fire and spinning around Some praying hippies kneeling on the ground "This dream sequence is over!" I declared, "And I need a buck. I gotta deliver these apples," and I jumped back in my truck I was deadheading back down Highway 17 Thinking about the hippies and the stuff I'd just seen Back to Teek & Vee's just to have another cup And I told them about the truck stop just a few miles up Now Teek just started laughing, but Vee had to explain He said "Son, you've been through Bethel, let me tell you 'bout the rain See, a few years back they had a big rock show And half the hippies living said they had to go Some say something slipped into our water supply And every now and then, when our well gets dry We might get a taste of some hippie brew But it's in the well water, and there's nothing to do So it gets in our coffee and every couple of nights You might see a mirage or run a red light" "So that was just a dream?" I said disbelieving "What about this travel mug?" I pulled out from my sleeve "Oh, that's your souvenir," he said with a grin "But I wouldn't use it unless you're tucked in 'Cause you don't know what'll happen or what you will see Drinking trucker's coffee on Highway 17B." |
