Stranger Candy - Jim White

Back in 1967, I was watching a TV show

When the glowing screen went blank

I looked out of my window

I saw 27 crows perched on my antenna

In the glass a familiar face appeared

A man whose name I don’t remember

'Cause that mother’s milk is dandy

When you’re a little baby

But as the wheels of time grind you down

You get a taste for that stranger candy

Then in December of '81

I saw my dear old friend John

He was fall-down drunk at the Christmas parade

With his children looking on

His wife, she’d lost her mind

She was committed for a time

She took refuge when they set her free

In some weird eastern philosophy

'Cause that mother’s milk is dandy

When you’re a little baby

But as the wheels of time grind you down

You get a taste for that stranger candy

And this life, they say is hard

But still it’s all you know

You can close your eyes and try to run away

But pray, where will you go?

Yeah, this life is all you know

Death is dark and strange

It’s the near and worrisome voice you hear

Forever calling out your name

As I was walking down the street

Last week in Portland, Oregon

I found the last of many keys I lost

I picked it up and I grinned

'Cause sometimes them crows take flight

And if you can shoo 'em from your brain

You will find yourself in the nick of time

Calling the devil by his name

'Cause that mother’s milk is dandy

When you’re a little baby

But as the wheels of time grind you down

You get a taste… just a little taste

For that stranger candy

Stranger candy