Highway 17 - Rodney Crowell

I put away fifteen grand doing one-night stands mostly liquor stores and

fillin' stations

Me and this peepin' Tom by the name of J.D. Swan and any number of his odd

blood relations

This was armed robbery 1957 and mostly our getaways were clean

Then I’d pay off the boys and bury my bread out on Highway 17

I had five kids and a wife with one dress and a yard full of cars that wouldn’t

running

My two oldest boys they were on to my noise they despised what their daddy done

But I did my thing the best I could maing plans by the light of day

And then night would fall and it was time to call and I was always on my way

Now J.D. he was crazy and he was inbred he drank whiskey like it was goin' out

of style

You know I should have seen it coming the writing was on the wall he was

getting just a little too loose and wild

Annd he made his mistake out on Airline Drive, you know those North Houston

cops are quick

They blew a hole in J.D. the size of Dallas and put a lump on my head with the

brunt of a nightstick

You know 5−10 in Huntsville ain’t no good times boys but I walked that line do

you know what I mean

'Cause my mind was snug on that hole I dug out on Highway 17

I said my mind was snug on that hole I dug out on Highway 17

So I served my time only way I knew how thinking big and making plans

All about the way I was gonna change the world when I get my hands on that 15

grand

You know C.W. and Herschel my two oldest boys they took care of their momma and

their little sisters the best way that they could

Dealing dimes and stealing hubcaps you know pretty soon they were doing good

So I walked out those prison gates a free man on the first day of November 19

and '63

I kissed my wife and I hugged my babies but they didn’t seem the same to me

You know the boys looked on they were already grown it was written across their

eyes and their faces

I’m the perfect sample of a bad example gone forever from their graces

But baby six long years and a lot can change many miles beyond your wildest

dreams

But a six-lane wide modern interstate ride out on Highway 17

Lord they sunk my ship 'neath a concrete strip out on Highway 17

Man they broke my back they built a concrete track out on Highway 17

Well, you know it ain’t funny but they buried my money out on Highway 17