Mesabi - Tom Russell

Have you ever seen Duluth?

When the Great Lake waves are pounding?

There must be some way out of there

You might end up lost or drowning

And the polkas at the Polish dance hall

And the carnivals of spring

And the rock and roll on an upright piano

Didn’t the kid make the high school rafters ring?

The kid who heard Howlin' Wolf

Every night on the radio

From those airwaves blasting

All the way up from Nogales, Mexico

And the duck-tail boys in St. Cloud

Polished up their chords of fame

And the armory show

Where Buddy Holly sang 'The Learning of the Game'

Some things never change, on the Mesabi Iron Range

Where that wild north country rain screams

«Please don’t make me do the work my father did»

Bethlehem of the troubadour kid

Have you ever heard that desert wind blow

'Cross the City of the Angels?

I was the kid playing football

In that Catholic school deep down in Mexican town

Richie Valens sang, 'La Bamba'

It’s 80 miles to Tijuana

I stole my parent’s car one night

Never found the dark-eyed ladies in the cowboy songs

Just a kid listening

To my Uncle George’s record player

While the great vinyl wheel spun

Round its holy prayer

And steel guitars in the Telecaster bars

Of the San Joaquin towns

And 'Don't Think Twice It’s Alright'

From the wild Mesabi Holy Ground

Some things never change

It’s still the learning of the game

You might end up on Fifth and Main, kid

Please don’t make me go out like my father did

I wanna sing like the troubadour kid